Animal Instinct
by SemiPrecious
Summary: Saya has awoken after a thirty year sleep, and like the last time has lost all her memories. As if learning how to use chopsticks again wasn't hard enough, now she just has to figure out what the strange but... pleasurable feeling she gets around Haji is.
1. Chapter 1

A.N Well, hello again, this is SemiPrecious. This is my first time writing a Blood+ fic because I only recently discovered the anime, but it was love at first sight. I swear, I am SO gonna work at at Woolworths (about the only place I have the credentials to work --;;) for about seventy years and save every cent, then buy all the characters offa whoever owns them and keep Haji AAAALL to myself... or, I would, if I wasn't so sure that I'd be attacked in my sleep by jealous fangirls who froth at the mouth and say MINE! a lot... damn... well, I still have my dreams. -sighs regretfully before promptly falling asleep-

Disclaimer: no, I do not own Blood, if only because of the rabid-fanus-girlus-ophobia I suffer from -shudders-

* * *

Darkness.

Darkness, thick and smelling of dust and age, surrounded her from all sides.

It engulfed her like water.

Behind her eyelids, indiscernible shapes drifted like cobwebs through the musty gloom. The very air smelt black here, warm and dark and hazy, like smoke. Fog spiralled across the endless landscape; black on black it twisted like a shadowy dancer to the silent pulse of the world.

Blindly smiling into the silken warmth, a girl blinked languidly.

She was in the first warm stages of awake-ness, the blissful first few seconds where everything is cosy and right and as it should be.

_Yes_.

She couldn't move, her muscles seemed cemented in place, but she wasn't frightened. Darkness, like the black that could be seen between the stars, was all around her; but it was deep, timeless and oddly comforting. She couldn't help but feel that this had happened before, in a kind of dream or memory or something else that there was no word for. Still unable to see, she only closed her eyes and smiled, sinking back down into the silken silence. Slowly, slowly, she entered the dreaded second stage.

Ah, the second stage of awake-ness. The part of your brain that narrows its eyes to think: Hang on. Where exactly am I? Why am I not wearing any clothes? What am I missing here? _What the hell happened last night_?!

In a jolt of awareness realisation washed over her, colour and thoughts and feelings flooding her body. Her eyes snapped open to darkness. She clenched them closed and stretched them open, her breath quickening into shallow pants when it made absolutely no difference. Sick with fear and fighting the panic that doused the warm fire inside her, she once again struggled to move, and this time the dark gave way.

Her relentless scrabbling revealed to her that the blackness was actually the inside of a thick cocoon-like pod that boxed her in from all sides. Overwhelmed by claustrophobia she pushed her way through blindly, the thick gossamer strands twining round her slender fingers, sticky and strange. Forcing herself through the strings that surrounded her, she could have cried in relief as her fingers pushed through the shell into the cold, fresh air of the outside. With a strange crack, the cocoon around her fingers crumbled away.

She jerked back with a sharp cry as the first light pierced through the bulk. Gasping she flung herself face down to the floor, frantically clawing at her streaming eyes with pale, slender fingers. They burned, they burned so bad. The light stabbed through her skull like a white-hot knife, the pain forcing her to curl into a protective ball as the agonising whiteness continued to flash and spin behind her scrunched eyes. Beneath her eyelids, her pupils adjusted. After so long of nothing but dark, the sudden light was nothing short of torture. She lay unmoving, curled in the foetal position on the ground with silent tears streaking slowly down her cheeks, for a long while.

When at last the immense pain dulled to only the occasional throb, she dared to uncurl her arms from where they cradled her pounding head. Relieved that the intense light had dulled to a manageable level of brightness she tentatively reached out to brush away the remains of the sticky threads.

Cold.

It was very, very cold outside the protective warmth of her shelter, and the unfamiliar sensations caused bumps to pimple the length of her naked limbs and rack her skinny torso with shivers. Snow tumbled outside the cold grey room that she and her cocoon-pod-thing rested in, some whirling through the stone doorway that stood open to the white winter wonderland.

Blinking wide maroon eyes in a show of childish wonder, she gripped the sides of her grey cocoon and pulled herself to her feet. For a while she wavered, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she struggled to find her balance. Stretching her arms to either side she took a few wobbly steps across the freezing granite, slowly, as though she were an infant. Very carefully she sunk to the cold stone floor, and one finger reached out to delicately trace the edge of one of the many flakes that littered the ground. She blinked, a small smile turning the corners of her mouth at the texture. It was cold. She'd never felt cold before today – at least, she didn't think so. Her memories were all fuzzy and indistinct; she wasn't even sure what her name was, though she was strangely sure that she had one, and that it was important. That _she_ was important.

She turned curious maroon eyes to the entrance of the grey stone building when her sharp ears heard the melodic sound of a young woman's laughter. Two women, if she wasn't mistaken, and an elderly man. Unsteadily struggling to her feet, she made her way to the doorway and peered outside.

She had never seen anything like it. More of the cold white powder was piled high in the boughs of naked trees and banked up against their grey trunks, with infinite numbers more of the frozen flakes coating the land in a thick blanket. She breathed out a sharp exhale as the cold air cut into her naked skin, startling slightly when her breath came out as white mist. How peculiar… did it always do that? She wasn't sure.

She only turned her gaze from its rapt exploration of the snowy landscape when she heard a sharp gasp, and turning saw the two teenage girls and the middle-aged man she had heard laughing before staring at her as though she were a ghost.

"Saya?"

The man spoke hesitantly, as though afraid he were dreaming.

"Saya?"

Tears swam in his eyes, and he took a slow step forward.

"Oh, Saya!"

_Saya_… her name was Saya, was it? Yes, that sounded about right. "Saya," she agreed, emphasising her name with a sharp nod that made her ankle-length black hair bounce. "I'm Saya."

"Saya," he choked again, stumbling towards her and throwing himself against her cold skin. He cried long and hard into her smooth shoulder, wrapping himself firmly around her naked body. "We've all missed you kiddo," he murmured tearfully, his soft lips tracing the words into her shoulder as she simply stood still, bewildered. "Of course you wouldn't know that. Joel said that you wouldn't remember anything, just like the last time."

The strange man drew away, his eyes shining brightly, and laughed. "Well, I guess introductions are in order. I'm Kai, you're brother. You haven't seen me since I was eighteen, but I'm almost fifty now." He gestured to the two teenaged girls, who were looking silently up at the pair with wonder in their vividly coloured maroon and blue eyes. "These two are your nieces, Aika and Aiko."

The two girls bobbed in greeting, gazing up at the woman who had always been the hero of their bedtime stories through eyes brimming with awe.

"They may not look it," Kai added conspiratorially, "but they're each thirty years old, almost to the day actually. You just missed their birthday by a week." He grinned expectantly, but Saya stood silent.

_Kai_.

_Aika_.

_Aiko_.

The names meant nothing to her, but just being around these people filled her with a curiously fierce protectiveness, so she knew that they must be important to her. It was all very strange, but she wasn't frightened. Unabashed she openly stared at the three, taking in their features through maroon eyes almost identical to Aiko's.

Kai had a shock of hair that tumbled down his back to finish at the base of his shoulder blades. Though mostly grey, there were enough ginger strands left to tell her that his hair must have been his most striking feature in his youth. His brown eyes were friendly but dulled by age and sadness; though they sparkled with joy now the loneliness that darkened their depths was unmistakeable. His face was brown and wrinkled around his eyes and mouth, the tough, leathery skin speaking of his hard labours out in the hot sun. He smiled kindly in response to her curious gaze, revealing a perfect set of straight white teeth. Her eyes slid to the right.

Aika and Aiko stood close together, unmistakably twins. Though they shared the same features – the same black hair, the same slightly snubbed nose, the same oval-shaped eyes and the same slender lips, Saya could tell just by looking into their eyes that the girl's personalities were worlds apart.

Aiko, the girl with maroon eyes that swam with flecks of crimson, obviously was a kind, loving soul. She had a calm and gentle spirit that sung of purity and quiet devotion to all those she held dear. Saya stared blatantly, her eyes unnervingly deep.

Under the heavy scrutiny, Aiko's lips twisted into a nervous smile. Her eyes darted madly, landing anywhere but on the elder woman's maroon orbs that were so like her own. She fidgeted slightly in place as a flustered blush painted her cheekbones a light crimson, and long, straight black hair slid over her shoulders to cover her face from the older woman's stare. Choosing to ignore this Saya just blinked owlishly and turned to the other twin.

Aika looked almost identical to her sister, with the exception of the dazzling sapphire orbs that replaced her sibling's maroon. Her black hair had rebellious streaks of blue the same shade as her eyes shot through, the ragged ends just brushing against her nape. The tilt of her chin, the twist of her lips and the determined flash of her eyes all told the quietly observing Saya that this girl was an arrogant one. Far from being 'evil,' she would none-the-less be a difficult one to like, if the haughtiness in her gaze was anything to go by. However, judging from the way the sisters' fingers were linked and the way Aika was standing so protectively in front of her shy sibling, at least one had managed to get through Aika's proud shell. Saya just smiled mutely, still feeling more than a little dazed. It was, after all, a lot to go through in one single afternoon.

"You must be exhausted, Saya," said Kai softly, noticing how she wavered on her feet. "C'mon. I'll take you home. There are a lot of people who want to say hello who've missed you just as much as I have."

Blindly trusting these three kind but odd strangers, Saya allowed herself to be walked along the concealed path. Kai had draped his jacket over her shoulders to conceal her nakedness and offer her a meagre amount of warmth. Uncaring of the temperature Saya simply walked along in silence, only half-listening to the excited chatter of her companions as she observed the outside world for the first time. Well, this should prove to be interesting…

* * *

Quote of the day…

'I said I'm _selling_ my soul, not giving it away. That would be immoral and stupid.'

-House, M.C. House

A.N. Yes, I AM going to include random quotes that I like! (Seriously, I have, like, fifty Word pages of quotes that I pick up from the net and TV and just type down because I'm weird like that...) Spread the love, that's what I say.

Well, what does everyone think? To continue, or not to continue? That is the ultimate question... If you're wondering, yes, this WILL have a plot. -sweatdrops as audience members faint from the shock of it all- Yes, I know, I know. Terrible, isn't it? This has just been a tentative introduction type thing to see how well I'll be recieved, the good stuff will come next chapter, I swear!!

'Neways, review if you love me, review if you hate me, and hopefully I'll be seeing you next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. -tears- wow, I feel so loved. -sniffles- 12 reviews for the first chapter, and all of them so positive! I think that's a first for chapter one... I swear, I opened my laptop to check my reviews and emails the other day, and my ego instantaneously inflated to the size of a small planet. I've been _glowing, _people. I dunno how healthy that last one is, but it's happening. Anyway, here's the next chapter. No Haji this time -frowns- but next chapter there is, I promise!

* * *

The excited chattering of her 'friends'… what an odd word… washed over her like a waterfall.

Saya and the others had been back at their old home for a half-hour already, a gruelling thirty minutes filled with much hugging and crying and exclamations of "Oh! You're still as beautiful as the day you sealed yourself away" and "Look at your hair! It's so… _long_"and so on and so forth. All, presumably, the sorts of things that get said when a friend who's been away for a long time is back in the midst of familiar company. It was all a little overwhelming, but Mao and her husband Akihiro seemed nice, so Saya let herself be fawned over.

A young man called Kunio had taken one look at her, swept her into a crushing hug and then darted away to the phone. Kai explained that everyone had been looking forward to her awakening for a long time, and Kunio was calling everyone up so that they could come see her. "You haven't met Kunio yet," said Kai, sinking into a stool with a soft groan and a mutter about his old bones. Right after leaving what she had later discovered to be a tomb the four of them had come to a restaurant called 'Omoro,' which they apparently owned. "But Kunio is David and Julia's son. I think you'll like him."

Saya nodded mutely, her eyes following Kai as he stood up again and ambled over to the fridge. He pulled out a plate of plastic-wrapped sushi with slightly more flourish than was necessary, and strutted towards Saya as well as his creaking bones would allow. A cocky smirk adorned his tanned features. "You haven't tried my cooking in thirty years," he grinned, whipping off the plastic cover and handing her a pair of chopsticks with mock ceremony. "I hope I've improved since we last saw one another. Go on, eat! You must be starved…"

Well, she _was_ hungry… Nodding her head sharply in the affirmative, Saya tossed the chopsticks to the side and picked up the clumps of rice and fish with her fingers, cramming them into her mouth. There was a stunned silence for a long while, broken only by the rustle of the jacket Saya wore as she dove for more rice and the sounds of her… well, frankly _inhaling_ the fish. The silence crept away, a little embarrassed while everyone watched in awed disbelief as the skinny girl crammed three of the sushi into her mouth at once. Some the other customers had stilled with their chopsticks halfway raised to their mouths, their eyes wide in shock.

"Well," said Kai with a gulp, backing towards to the fridge to get some more food when Saya scowled at the now empty plate. "I can see that your appetite hasn't changed…"

Mao fluttered her hands dismissively, though she too was privately in awe of the girl's… _enthusiasm_. "It's natural that she should be so hungry," she said with a decisive nod. "She _has_ been asleep for thirty years, after all. Look at how skinny she is. She needs to at least eat enough that we can't see her ribs anymore." She poked Saya's admittedly skinny chest for emphasis when the gorging girl stopped for a brief moment to masticate the whole fish she had just stuffed into her already spherical cheeks.

"Yeah, I guess," said Kai doubtfully, watching as Saya used a single chopstick as a shovel to cram more rice between her lips. "She's gonna put me out of business though." A smile curved his lips, a faraway look coming to his eyes. "Just like old times," he murmured. "She's almost like she used to be, before Haji and David pulled her into the world of the Chiropteran all those years ago…"

There was a clatter, and Kai turned to see that Saya had set her empty bowl of rice down. "Right," he said hastily, pulling himself back to his feet to rummage again through the fridge. "I think we still have a bowl of noodles in here somewhere, or I can cook you up some eggs, I know you always liked those…"

But Saya didn't seem interested in food for once. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed, her eyes getting a distant look to them. "Ha… ji?" she said slowly, her lips barely moving to form the quiet syllables.

Akihiro caught the movement though. "Yeah, Haji. He's your Chevalier. Do you remember him?"

Saya shook her head in the negative. The name was very familiar though, and just the timbre of the syllables made her feel... something. She wasn't sure. Everything was so new and confusing...

"Haji doesn't matter," said Mao, flapping her hands dismissively. "You know what I think we should do now…" Saya didn't like the triumphant glint in the woman's eyes… "It's time to get out the photo albums!"

Akihiro and Kai smothered a groan, but Mao ignored them and gripped Saya's hand tight. "There's so much we have to catch on," she chattered, dragging the bewildered Saya to the back of the restaurant where the living area was. "Being the only girl, oh, it's been a _trial_ without you, especially with Julia out of the country so often, and of _course_ she had to have a son instead of a daughter! But now we can talk about old times, or at least, I'll talk and you can just smile and nod and pretend to give a damn, I find that's what most people do…"

Mao stood triumphantly in front of a bookshelf filled with rows and rows of photo albums and scrapbooks and other miscellaneous bits and pieces of obviously great sentimental value. Saya just blinked slowly as Mao began rifling through them, tossing some of the many albums onto the sofa and leaving others where they were. After a few short moments the middle-aged woman threw herself onto the couch and gestured for Saya to do the same. "These are photos from all different times when you were sleeping," she prattled on, opening one of the countless albums that lay strewn about on the furniture. "I can't wait until you remember everyone so that we can talk like old times. Here are David and Julia's wedding photos, oh, aren't they just the sweetest couple? There's Kai with the twins at the park, they were only eight in that one. Now, that woman there is me, and the guy next to me is my idiot of a husband Akihiro."

Saya stared at the slightly faded picture of a strikingly beautiful young teen, and then at the somewhat dumpy middle-aged woman with sharp eyes and soft wrinkles that sat next to her.

"I look different, don't I?" said Mao with a gentle smile. "It's been thirty years Saya. That's a long time for a human, but I guess it's nothing to you. You know, you must be about two hundred years old. Same with your Haji, the Chevalier boy, he must be getting on a bit by now… But enough of that. Look at Akihiro there, see, he used to be _such_ a looker! You'd never believe it to look at him now, age hasn't been kind to him…"

"Oi," said the newly arrived Akihiro, feigning hurt. "Mao darling, how could you?"

"Don't you 'Mao darling' me, you old coot!"

"They're always like this," whispered Kai conspiratorially into her ear, rolling his eyes as he grinned. "They love each other to pieces, but fight like hell cats all the time. It's just their twisted way of showing affection, it's something you eventually get used to…"

Kai stopped when he realised that Saya wasn't listening to him or the bickering couple beside them. Instead she was looking pensively at a faded black-and-white photo that had been pasted inside the cover of the album, the picture showing both her and Haji sometime during the 1800s. One finger slowly traced the blurred contours of Haji's face, a frown darkening her maroon eyes to chocolate.

"That's Haji," said Kai softly, drawing the attention of the squabbling couple beside them. "Are you sure you don't remember him? You seem to at the very least recognise him…"

Saya shook her head slowly in the negative, but the frown didn't disappear from her youthful features. He was so familiar to her, but at the same time she had no clue as to who he was. Undeniably handsome, the dark haired boy was standing beside her in a polite but also possessive stance. She wondered just what her relationship with him had been... was he as nice as Kai and everyone else here were? But somehow, even if it was just a picture, he _felt_ different to how she felt about the others. She shook her head, trying to dispel the sudden stabbing of pain in her skull. Who was he? Who was _she_? What was going on?

"I guess that today has been a bit overwhelming," said Kai, sighing deeply at his sister's confused frown. "It's getting late anyway. Why don't you go to sleep, and you'll hear the full story tomorrow when Julia, David, Lewis and Lulu get back from the States. Joel sends his apologies, but he won't be able to meet you right away. He says that he will eventually, but his work doesn't exactly allow him holidays whenever he wants... Anyway, Aiko and Aika share your old room now, but you can sleep in the spare room. Come on and help me set it up."

Nodding, Saya got to her feet and bowed a little uncertainly at Mao and Akihiro, muttering a 'goodnight' so softly that the pair almost missed it. Smiling broadly Mao just waved a slightly pudgy hand in dismissal. "Oh, don't bow to us, Saya. You're our friend, there's no need for formalities."

Both smiled after her as she walked away, but their grins dropped the moment she was out of sight.

"She really doesn't know us anymore, does she?" said Mao quietly.

"You knew she wouldn't," said her husband, but he too sounded distressed.

"I know, I know… But… but, I guess I had always secretly hoped that she would burst from her cocoon, and like magic everything would be just as it was. Everyone would be happy again, and everything would be _right_. My dreams of her awakening were always like that, but now that she really has awoken I have to face reality, and it's more difficult that I imagined..."

"I know, love. But give her time. We'll have our optimistic little girl back before you know it."

"…Thanks, Akihiro," said Mao softly, smiling tenderly up at her husband through watery eyes. She gently pressed her lips to his in a chaste kiss, smiling into his mouth when his greying whiskers tickled her chin. "Oi, when are you going to shave? You look like a bum with that face-fuzz."

"I love you too, sweet-cheeks… Ouch! What did I say?"

"Hmph."

- - -

Saya slipped out of Kai's jacket while he turned his back. He waited until she had pulled on her sleeping clothes before helping her with the top's buttons, which struggled to do up properly.

"I'll have to cut your hair again sometime this week," Kai murmured, running his hands through the long, silken strands distractedly. "Just like old times… Only… not."

Kai sighed in frustration at Saya's blank look, but the irritation melted away after only a few moments. "I'm sorry, sis. I just… I just want you to remember so that we can go back to being a family. It's been hard without you or Riku or Dad, it felt like I'd been abandoned, even though my mind knew that no one left me by choice my heart still felt betrayed. I think I'd have gone insane if it wasn't for the kids…"

Kai shook his head ruefully and pulled the thick doona back from the bed, gesturing for Saya to climb in, which she did. "I'll see you in the morning." He pulled the blankets to her chin, tucking the sides in. Leaning forward he brushed a light kiss across her temple with thin, wrinkled lips, before pulling away with a watery smile. "Love you, kiddo," he rasped, turning quickly and clicking out the light. He closed the door, and the room was bathed in darkness.

Saya just lay there for a long time, staring at the ceiling. She had just awoken from a thirty-year sleep, and wasn't feeling the least bit tired. Just very, very confused.

Those people all seemed so nice, and were all vaguely familiar to her, though she had no idea as to who they specifically _were_. Oddly enough, other than the strange 'Haji' guy she had yet to meet, it was the twin girls who captivated her attention more than anyone else. She felt a fierce sense of protectiveness come over her when in their presence, and though she felt a similar sensation around the others, it was… different with the children.

Around Kai, Mao, Akihiro and Kunio she felt confused, definitely, but at the same time she felt safe and loved. The twins, though, flooded her entire being with the need to _protect_. It was as though she was seeing her daughters again after years of separation. She didn't know them, didn't know how they grew up or anything like that, but still she recognised them on the most basic of levels as family... It was difficult to explain, but the feeling was there, and it puzzled her. According to Kai, the children weren't even hers.

She sat up with a sigh, the edges of her doona becoming untucked and allowing the cold to seep into the warm pocket her body heat had created. Unheeding of the temperature change she slid out of bed, awkwardly walking over to the large window that overlooked the flashing multitude of coloured lights that flickered and glowed like artificial stars. She still wasn't used to her body, even doing something as natural as walking required concentration.

Sighing, she leant against the window frame and studied the outside world. Her reflection looked back at her intensely, the maroon eyes in the glass flashing as if to say _I know something you don't know. _She shook her head, her long black hair shimmering in the glow of the city lights.

Who was she? _What_ was she? The way the others were talking, she wasn't even human. She remembered Mao's words: _It's been thirty years, Saya. That's a long time for a human, but I guess it's nothing to you._

Hm, definitely not human, then. If she wasn't a human, then what was she? Were there others like her? But she looked like a human… She studied her reflection. Yep, two eyes, creamy white skin, nose, mouth, hair. Very human looking. What made her in-human then?

Saya suddenly stiffened, her muscles going taut and flexing beneath her skin. Her nostrils flared, and her narrowed eyes brought the world into almost painful focus. Not impeded in the least by the dark her intense gaze studied the reflection in the window, knowing somehow that there was a presence in the room that had noticed her, and that she shouldn't let it know yet that she had also noticed it. Slowly, very slowly so as not to attract attention she shifted her feet into a defensive stance, her eyes never leaving the spot on the glass that revealed the presence of the stranger. She heard the soft click of a footfall, and whirled around.

The intruder caught her hand easily, and then the fist that she swung at his head. While she had no hands free it meant that neither did he, and he could do nothing to stop her knee slamming into a very sensitive place. He growled in protest, momentarily weakening his previously unbreakable hold on her wrists. Taking advantage of his pain she shook herself free and backed up against the wall, raising her arms defensively and watching the stranger through narrowed eyes. Groping around the dresser her desperate fingers were pricked by the point of a handy calligraphy pen, which she brandished threateningly.

He was obviously winded from her previous attack, but very suddenly – and with astonishing speed – he darted towards her trembling form, appearing in front of her in a flash of darkness and a whisper of cloth. Before she could react, a surprisingly gentle hand that was rough and strangely gnarled crept up to rest against her cheek. "Saya," he said softly, and she stilled.

She looked at him then, his pale face almost glowing where the soft light of the moon hit his features. Drowning in calm blue eyes Saya leant forward, her mind whirring and her fingers unconsciously gripping the cloth that concealed his chest. Her nose was flooded with a warm, clean, and above all masculine scent of leather and tree sap and faintly of peppermint. She knew with sudden clarity who held her so dearly.

"Haji," she whispered, and he stiffened.

* * *

Quote of the day:

Always wear completely clean underwear every day because you never know when you could be knocked down and killed by a runaway horse, and if people found that you had unsatisfactory underwear on, you'd die of shame.

And then one more, because people seemed to like them and I'm just that nice a person...

'Why are you called One-Man-Bucket?'

'…In my tribe we're traditionally named after the first thing my mother sees when she looks out the tepee after birth. It's short for One-Man-Pouring-A-Bucket-Of-Water-Over-Two-Dogs.'

'That's pretty unfortunate.'

'It's not too bad. It was my twin brother you had to feel sorry for. She looked out ten seconds before me to give him his name.'

'Don't tell me, let me guess. Two-Dogs-Fighting?'

'Two-Dogs-Fighting? Two-Dogs-_Fighting_? Wow, he would have given his right arm to be called Two-Dog's-_Fighting…_'

LMAO. They're both Terry Pratchett, though I can't specifically remember the books I got them from. You're probably going to find that I quote Terry a lot, just because he's a _goldmine _of good quoting material.

Well, that was chapter two. I normally only update every other week, but because I felt SOOOO good after reading all those reviews, I thought, 'what the hell' and got busy typing. I also managed to finish chappie 3, so you can expect to get that soon as well. I guess that's goodbye till next time, and don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 3

A.N Thankyou thankyou thankyou THANKYOU to everyone who reviewed last chapter! -tears- this has got to be the most reviews that I've gotten after only two chapters... YOU GUYS ROCK!!

Anyway, you'll be happy to hear that I have had a _wonderful _week. Just amazing. The main reason?

I GOT 96 PERCENT ON MY EXAM, BABY!! _**BOOH**_-YAH!!

No, seriously, this is a big thing for me. I'm a major nerd, I'm pretty much straight A's except in maths (damn those parabolas), so I've been on a happy high all week, and for once it wasn't induced by the sugar I don't traffick illegally and definately don't keep under my bed. -shifty eyes.-

Anyway, that was just my little happy rant. Now, on with the story!! (It's ALLLL Haji, baby!)

* * *

"Haji," she whispered, and he stiffened.

"… Do you remember me?" he asked quietly, his stoic tone belying the quickening of the heart that thrummed beneath her fingers. "How is it that you retain your memories?"

"I don't have any memories," Saya whispered back, feeling oddly apologetic. "I spoke to some other people before and they told me a little… Oh, what were their names…? Kai, the twins, Mao, Akihiro and… Kurini?"

"I think you mean 'Kunio.' I know of them. They are old allies of ours," he said after a short pause. There was a brief silence, but then Saya gasped in remembrance.

"Oh, OH! I kicked you… um, in a rather… you know… place, didn't I? Are you alright?" said Saya worriedly. "It's just, I didn't know who you were, I thought you were a burglar or, or, a rapist or something. I'm so sorry, so, so, so sorry, I never would have kicked you 'there' so hard if I knew that it was you... Can you still have children? Did I damage your –"

"All is well, Saya," interrupted Haji, almost hastily. "Such an attack would not do any permanent damage. I have received far worse."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't hurt you too bad," Saya breathed, leaning forward slightly into his hold. As if only realising now how intimately close they were standing, Haji gently prised her fingers from where they gripped his front and took an abrupt step backward. Free now to properly look her latest companion over Saya tilted her head to the side and did so, her eyes wide and innocent as they critically studied his every feature.

He looked exactly as he had in the old photo she had looked at before, aside from the wardrobe change from an old fashioned suit to a more modern trench coat. The dark leather stretched tight across his midsection but loosened at the hips to allow maximum movement, the material ending only at his boot-clad feet. During her inspection of his clothes she couldn't help but notice that one of his hands was swathed messily in gauze while the other was scarred heavily at the knuckles, the slender lines of silver barely visible beneath the loose cuffs of his coat. Almost self-consciously he tucked the appendages away, making her lift her gaze – he was about a head taller than herself – to his face.

It was an… exquisite face. Smooth and pale, it was marred only by the long scar that ran through the corner of his slender lips up to just above his cheekbone. Another few millimetres long and it would have taken out his eye. Above the silver mark his narrow blue-grey eyes flashed eerily in the darkness.

"Haji," she murmured, narrowing her eyes and cocking her head to the side as she studied his infuriatingly familiar features. "Who are you?"

"I am your servant and your Chevalier," the tall man said promptly, lowering his head in a respectfully shallow bow. "I am yours to command, and live only to serve you."

"I… see." Well, _this_ was definitely new… "But… but, that's not what I asked. You've told me _what _you are… but _who _are you?"

Though his features never moved, Saya saw surprise flicker in his stormy eyes. "Saya," he whispered, and she could see his indecision.

"Who are you? Who am _I_?" she insisted. "It's my life, I think I have a right to know just who or _what _I am…"

"I only thought that the others might prefer to tell you themselves at a later time." He sighed, but nodded reluctantly in response to the pleading in her eyes. Carefully taking her hand within his own bandaged one he lowered himself gracefully to sit on the bed, settling Saya beside him. Shivering slightly at the feel of his warmth pressed against her side, Saya turned curious maroon eyes to his pensive slate-blue, and waited patiently for her companion to speak.

The Chevalier spoke carefully, and she got the impression that he was deliberately leaving out certain events. He did speak though of her sister Diva, his descriptions short and his sentences clipped. He spoke very briefly of each of her companions and what they meant to her, but hesitated when he ran out of things to say without going into any detail of her past quest. He didn't want to burden her with such knowledge until at least a few days later, since she already had so much information to take on board.

"Yes?" Saya prompted, enthralled with the dark tale of her past despite the reluctance of the speaker.

"That is all for tonight," he said at length. "Perhaps I will tell you what happened afterwards some other time. For now, dawn approaches."

"I want to hear more," Saya insisted, and leaning over trailed one finger along the cool skin of his cheek. "How long have you had these scars?"

Haji drew a quivering breath. "These are relatively new. I got them after defeating an enemy known as Amshel when a balcony collapsed on top of the both of us, just after our fight. He died, but I managed to escape with my life, though barely." He allowed her fingers to trace the silver slash that was glaringly obvious against his cream complexion, closing his eyes to the light explorations of her fingers against the foreign planes of his face. He only opened them again when she began to instead study the spoiled skin of his hand.

The appendage was still deformed from where the crushing force of the balcony had twisted the bones, and here the silver lines criss-crossed his skin as fine as mesh. "It will heal with time, and the scars will soon fade," Haji reassured her quietly, taking up her cool hands within his own and cradling them carefully. "The damage done was extensive enough that my body is still healing after thirty years, but with time I will be just as I was."

"I see." Seeing his fingers all bent and warped all out of shape saddened her greatly. Impulsively she brought the appendage to her lips, and chastely kissed the rough skin. Haji looked startled, but Saya only grinned crookedly at him, a light blush dusting her cheeks. "To help you heal," she told him earnestly, and he gave her a hesitant smile.

"You should sleep now, Saya," he told her, picking her up to sit on his lap while he pulled back the bed's covers. He shifted her until she rested comfortably on her pillow, her cheeks flushed lightly from their most recent contact. "Sleep," he commanded gently. "I will be here when you wake."

"Aren't going to sleep? I can make room…"

"I do not require sleep, nor food, nor drink."

"How is that possible?"

"It is a tale for another time, should you wish it."

"But I'm not tired." She pouted cutely.

Haji smiled slightly at her. "If this were thirty years ago, I would have played my cello for you," he said, looking almost wistfully out of the bedroom window. "Unfortunately, my fingers can no longer grip the bow. I'm afraid that your rest must come naturally and in its own time."

Saya sighed despairingly. There was so much to think about, she had learnt so much in so short a time. How could he expect her to sleep? She was pulled from her tumultuous thoughts when she became aware of the mattress dipping, and a warm body curling around her own. Her nose was flooded with the masculine scent of leather and pine.

"I will lie with you until you slumber," Haji told her, drawing her close and silently revelling in her heat. "As your Chevalier it is my greatest desire to see you happy and to follow your every command, but for now, your body needs its rest. Sleep. I will lie with you."

Grumbling under her breath about overprotective Cheval-thingies, whatever he was, she couldn't quite remember, Saya nuzzled with a slight blush into the bare chest her face was pressed against and yawned. Haji must have removed his coat… Secretly delighting in the small shiver the movement of her lips against his skin evoked, Saya closed her eyes and drifted into sleep, feeling safe and protected by the strange man who held her tight as she slowly fell into unconsciousness.

Haji's breath whooshed out in a silent sigh as his charge's own breathing at last evened out. He slowly and carefully leant forward into her hold, drawing steadily closer until he felt the barest tickle of her long dark tresses against the tip of his nose, and allowed himself to take rare comfort in the familiar scent of apples and musk. Though tainted with dust from the many decades she had spent sealed away, the scent underneath hadn't changed at all. After so many years he had been afraid that the scent of home would have altered, but it was just the same; _she_ was just the same. Relaxing into her limp embrace he simply lay there silently, content for the first time in a long, long while.

She had shocked him when she had whispered his name. When he had sensed her return into the world of the living he had wanted to be the first to greet her, the first to see her and the first to serve her. Kai and the others had beat him there however, since they coincidently were already there on their monthly visit to the site while he was miles away. Despite his superior speed it had taken him some time to arrive at the tomb, but undeterred, upon noting her absence from her resting place he had raced to the Omoro restaurant and up to the spare room where he could feel her presence, and oh, it had been wonderful to _feel_ her again. To sense her being and feel her spirit brush against his skin the same as it had all those years ago, so very long ago when Solomon had taken her captive and he, Haji, had been left to hunt her down in the maze that was metropolis. Just to feel that she was _there_ and _alive_ was indescribable…

This time, he had been determined to make his existence known before anyone had a chance to gain her affection. As the recent memory played itself over in his mind, Haji couldn't help but to smirk crookedly into her hair. Well, at least her reflexes hadn't been dulled by time.

But, when his name had passed through her lips so reverently, he had been flooded with memory and sparked with hope that perhaps she _remembered_ this time. Perhaps she knew already of his love, perhaps she remembered their kiss…

_Perhaps she would allow him to kiss her again…_

But, of course, that had not been the case at all.

At least she hadn't seemed revolted by his deformed hand, he thought distantly. He had been vaguely worried that she would be disgusted by it… but of course such uncertainties were proven foolish. Though her memories were gone she was still his Saya, and she still possessed the kind and indomitable spirit she was so loved for. Such a thing could never repulse her.

The Chevalier raised the still tingling appendage to eye level and studied the spot amongst the webs of silver where her lips had pressed. Smooth and soft they had startled him, but the look of such sincerity that was in her eyes when she brought his hand to her mouth had stayed any objections he might have had. She had been genuinely sorry for his pain, and wished simply to make him better the only way she knew how. He ached to think that he selfishly would have rejected so innocent a touch, and he would have, had she not looked at him with the eyes that she did…

The soft pressure of her mouth against his flesh brought back memories of another time her lips had touched him, and it was painful to relive that without the hope of it happening again. He had loved her for a long time, and while he had patience that would make a saint envious his feelings for her had only intensified after their shared declaration of love, as if voicing the words had somehow made the feelings he felt more real.

As it stood though, he would have to be content to protect her from afar. He knew he could still protect her as his Chevalier status demanded without being her life partner, and would, of course. He would have to. It would hurt and overwhelm her to tell her so soon of his love. There was still much she had to learn, so many more people to meet, and so many things to do… It would be prudent to let her know of his devotion only after she had fully accepted what she was, and what she meant. She was exhausted after only one day of excitement, she slept so deeply and soundly cradled in the small space his bowed body made.

He tenderly brushed a long strand of hair from where it had slipped across her pale face. She looked so skinny, more delicate than he could ever remember her being. It concerned him… he would have to see that she ate, as his duty as a Chevalier was to see to her happiness and safety, and his want as a once-and-perhaps-again suitor was to see her healthy and glowing. But... No. He shook his head against the pillow. No. He would never do anything to make life any more difficult for her, and the confession of his love would be far more than she could take after such a short time. He didn't want to scare her away forever because he could not hold his tongue for a few scant weeks…

Breathing into her hair, Haji closed his eyes and let the feeling of content wash over him once more. No matter what happened, he never wanted to lose Saya as a companion. If admitting his feelings meant losing her, then he supposed that he could be content with the platonic relationship he already had with her.

Simultaneously soothed and tormented by his vow of silence, Haji let his mind cloud and simply lay motionless as the globe of the world spun on, the hours drifting past silently as the night faded. He lay there in her unconscious embrace for a long while, and didn't move until the waterfall of bird song washed over the city, the sunlight that streamed through the window heralding the beginning of yet another day.

* * *

A.N. -sighs- Why, oh why does Haji have to have a thing for kick-ass sword-weilding warrior girls with toxic blood? Oh, I'm sure it's just a phase. Deep down, I'm sure he's just _nuts _about girls who know the majority of the periodic table by heart and know what 'eschsholtzia' are. -looks hopefully at Haji-

Haji: ... excuse me. I have to go... wash my hair.

Quote of the day:

Before you critisise someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you critisise them, you're a mile away and you've got their shoes.

-Guru Bob, the Wise Words of Sheif Yabuti Wasim Qasim Asif Iqbal (try saying _that _ten times fast. )

Ta-ta for now! A last BIG hug and virtual cookies to everyone who reviewed, and hopefully I'll hear from you all again! You'd better review this chapter as well, or I'll get Mao to go over to your house and show you her albums!

Mao: Look, there, that's my son. Isn't he just the cutest?

Readers: AHHHH!! No, not the PICTURES!!

... Nah, I'm not that mean. Oh yeah, one teensy last note. I'm having a little trouble with the next chapter, and need a simile... "He's as unnapproachable as a..."


	4. Chapter 4

A.N. Last chapter... Wow. I didn't think it was possible for Haji to be so out of character without a frilly tutu and/or a tube of lipstick featuring somewhere. Unfortunately for the poor aliens who had taken possession of Haji's personality I've redone the chapter multiple times now until (hopefully) all traces of major OOC have been gotten rid of. Poor aliens sent me a letter of complaint, but Haji's way cuter than the slimy green things so I ruled that he had rightful possession of his anal-retentive attitude. The aliens then egged my house. Bastards. For now though, get out your mud-packs and puppy-print PJs, coz it's a girls night in!!

* * *

The next day it was raining.

It wasn't raining the nice, friendly summer-shower rain that plops pleasantly onto umbrellas and makes everything nice and green, nor was it the light drizzle that blurs the air and clings in tiny droplets to all the plant-life; rather, it was the winter storm that snarls like a feral animal, numbs and reddens any skin it can sink its icy little teeth into, and sends nasty little winds that blow right through your skin to freeze your marrow.

The wind howled. Lightning stabbed at the earth, while thunder rolled back and forth across dark, rain-lashed hills. Branches were torn off by the wind and flung to the ground with a horrible _crack!_, and ancient trees groaned torturously as they were ripped from the earth and toppled. Clods of dark earth clung grimly to the roots before they too were slapped into the mud with a snarl. The sky was black and hazy through the wall of icy, needle-like droplets that speared drooping green leaves, mercilessly crushing any flowers that dared show their colourful faces on a day that was for the darkness and for the _rage_ of forces more deadly than anything of man's creation.

Saya sat silently, looking out the window through the icy spears of rain at the shrieking wind and the occasional vicious lightning bolt that made the earth tremble. Brittle wooden fingers scaped torturously against the glass panes of the windows, the dark silhouettes of the tree branches that scratched against the sides of the house flailing madly as the roaring gales fought to tear them apart.

Wrapping the thick woollen blanket Kai had been kind enough to provide her with tighter around herself, she curled her knees up against her chest and gripped the hot mug of steaming tea she held tighter. Because of the sudden storm that had appeared overnight, David and the others would have to postpone their flight from the States until a few days later, when the weather cleared up.

Being a Saturday Kai had to go and work in the restaurant, but had insisted that Saya just rest up and relax for the next couple of days. Mao and Akihiro couldn't come over to entertain her as they had their own journalistic jobs to do, and frankly just taking the time off to come and visit yesterday was apparently pushing it. They had apologised profusely, genuinely sorry that they couldn't come and talk to her about times past, but she completely understood. She had asked after the twins, but Kai had just shrugged and said that they often did their own thing, and that if they didn't want to be found, they wouldn't be. Haji was still with her, but he was gazing pensively out into the rain and she hated to break his concentration when what he was thinking about seemed so important. So, she too stared out the window and thought.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she heard the soft, almost silent click of footsteps upon the wooden boards of the next room. She glanced questioningly at Haji, but he was still staring out the window and appeared not have heard a thing. She wondered for a moment if he was so deep in thought that he missed it, but dismissed such a ridiculous notion immediately. He was very much a warrior; it was painfully obvious that there was nothing and no one that could ever take him by surprise.

"The twins have returned," he said softly, his gaze never leaving the vicious storm that was tearing up the outside world.

Saya nodded slowly, and tossing her head back she downed her tea in one long gulp. Setting the mug down she wrapped the blanket tighter about herself and made her way into what apparently used to be her bedroom. Knocking politely, she waited until she heard a soft "Come in", before opening the door and stepping inside.

The two girls both sat on the one large bed that took up most of the small room, and had obviously been talking before she interrupted. Smiling awkwardly at the two Saya walked inside, briefly taking in the various band posters and rough pencil sketches that covered the navy-blue walls before turning back to the twins. "Hello. I was wondering if I could talk to you two."

"Free country," said Aika with a flippant shrug, the wispy ends of her blue-streaked hair bobbing lightly with the motion.

"Sit down," Aiko urged, her friendly maroon eyes gleaming in the dim light of the room. "There's plenty of room."

Nodding gratefully Saya lowered herself to sit on the cool sheets, and studied the two girls carefully while they in turn scrutinised her. All was silent for some time before Aika said dismissively, "You don't seem so incredible."

"Aika!" Aiko scolded her sister. "That was very impolite."

"It's true!" Aika turned to Saya and narrowed her eyes at the older girl accusingly. "Kai and the others spoke of all these fantastic things that you did. You were a monster slayer, a demon basher and an ass-kicking wonder-woman." Aika's eyes glowed sapphire, her excitement and awe almost tangible as she recalled the many stories her surrogate family had entertained her with. "You sounded incredible. But now that I've met you at last… you look so _normal._"

"I-I don't know who I'm meant to be," said Saya meekly, a little distressed at Aika's displeasure. "I was hoping you could tell me." She grew bolder. "Everyone has only told me the bare minimum, and even what Haji told me was all so… _impersonal_. He sounded as though he were reading me the barest highlights of my life from a textbook. I… need to know _who_ I am, who I _really_ am. I'm doing things and feeling things that I don't understand, and since apparently you're the same as me, I was hoping that you could at least give me a little information…"

"Of course we will," said Aiko soothingly, shooting a warning glance at her sister when it looked as though she were about to object. But Aika only 'hmmph'ed, and settling back against the head-board she contented herself with watching the going-ons through suspicious electric-blue eyes.

"We are a different species to humans," Aiko explained to Saya. "We are called Chiropteran. Though we look human, we have inhuman abilities, and sometimes we can also revert from our pseudo-human appearance to that of a terrifying monster." Aika snorted from where she sat, but Aiko just ignored her. She continued her explanations, getting rather enthusiastic…

"And we can kill evil monsters with nothing more than a drop of our blood!" she said excitedly, flailing her arms to mark her point. "If I get any of Aika's blood on me, I'll die; the same for Aika if she gets any of my blood on her. We can create other creatures from our blood and turn them into what are called Chevalier, like Haji is to you. Diva, your sister, could have killed him with her blood, same as you killed her Chevalier with yours. You had a sword that Haji safe-guards now, but it had little rivulets so it could be coated with your blood when you fought, meaning that a single swing would reduce Diva's monsters to crystal. Of course, the sacrifice for such a cool talent is that we need regular blood transfusions, and occasionally we need to feed off of other humans, you'll need to do that too."

"Feed off other humans?" said Saya, intrigued by the many things that made a Chiropteran different to a human. "And this won't kill them?"

"No," Aiko clarified with a chuckle, "we only need a little bit every other day. Otherwise we get weak and can't function properly. Kai usually gives us some of his if the blood-bags we get from the hospital run low."

"I think I understand. Is there anything else I need to know?"

The threesome spoke well into the evening about everything there was to know about being a Chiropteran. After her initial reluctance Aika had joined in the conversations with gusto, even if it was only to argue against her sister's statements whenever the opportunity presented itself. Saya found that she had been right about her first impression of the haughty girl: though she was very difficult to get along with, and Saya found her hand twitching with the longing to slap some manners into the impudent child on one or twelve occasions, she was at the same time a kind girl who obviously cared greatly for sister.

The three were quickly becoming good friends as the night wore on, and it wasn't long before they found themselves talking of… _other_ things.

"Haji's sorta cute," said Aika conspiratorially, and the other two girls agreed with a giggle and a round of appreciative nods. They were by now all lying on the bed in warm cotton pyjamas with cute animal prints of puppies and giraffes, paired with comically large fluffy animal slippers. The nail polish had just circuited the room, and now each girl sat clutching pillows to their chests, hot pink nails dazzling with glitter and the odd sparkly crescent moon.

"He's dreamy," sighed Aiko, stars in her eyes. "Not my type, but still a hell of a specimen."

"Mm," Saya agreed. "I haven't known him very long, but he seems to be a nice man."

"Nice?" The twins gaped. "Sure he's hot, but he's about as 'nice' as a block of ice! He's unapproachable as a… as a porcupine with rabies(1)!"

Aiko and Saya looked Aika weirdly, who had the decency to flush. "It was the first thing to come to mind," she muttered.

"Right… Anyway, he's okay around me…" said Saya with a small blush, successfully diverting all attention back to herself. "He slept with me last night."

The twin's jaws were almost touching the floor.

"Not-not like _that_," Saya spluttered, realising what she had just said. "I was having trouble sleeping, and he just… lay beside me."

"Uh huh," said Aika, her eyes still stretched wide. "Before or after the flying purple pigs started selling sleigh rides in hell?"

"Aika," scolded Aiko, but she too looked doubtful.

"…Is he really so reclusive?" asked Saya softly. "He seemed really sweet…"

"_Swe-_… Honey, Haji is one fine male specimen, but he is neither nice nor _sweet… _At least not towards us lowly mortals… He must have a MASSIVE crush on you…"

"What?" interrupted Saya, blushing furiously as the twins sniggered. "No, I doubt that's it. Apparently we used to be friends, he probably just missed me."

"Yeah, he missed you _a whole lot_, from the sounds of things," Aika leered, giggling girlishly when Saya flamed crimson. "So, was he-?"

"That's quite enough, Aika," said Aiko, taking pity on the almost purple-faced Saya who was still spluttering hopelessly. "I think the poor girl will pass out if you say what I think you were going to say."

"Oh?" Aika smirked suggestively. "And what was I going to say?"

"You were going to ask whether he-"

"Please!" Saya begged, afraid that she would pass out if any more blood rushed to her head. "Can't we talk about something else?"

"In denial, are we?" said Aika playfully. "C'mon, it's so obvious you like him."

"Like you said, he is handsome," Saya whispered, relieved to find that her face was slowly beginning to look more like a human's than the tomato it previously had been doing a fantastic impersonation of. "I do get these weird feelings that I can't really describe or explain when I'm around him, like, almost a pulling sensation. I don't really know how to explain it."

"Wow. Sounds like you _really _like him," Aiko whispered, suitably awed. "If you can even vaguely remember what you used to feel for him, your feelings for him before your Big Sleep must have been amazing…"

"I guess I must have been in love with him before my sleep," said Saya shyly, smiling distantly while a fresh blush painted her cheeks. "I wonder what happened between us…"

"I could hazard a few guesses," Aika smirked, but was hushed by her sister.

"I don't really know about the reproductive tendencies of Chevalier and Chiroptera," said Aiko doubtfully. "It's not like there are any around we can study."

"I guess Saya and Haji are going to be our guinea-pigs," said Aika, winking to show that she wasn't being serious. "We'll box you in together until you declare your mutual adoration and make lots of little Hajis!"

"And they'll confess their undying love, get married, have tons and tons of children and walk off into the sunset," said Aiko dreamily. "How perfect. Looks like it won't take too long either until Saya gets her memories back."

"Why do you say that?" said Aika.

"Haven't you noticed? We've been talking about things she should have no knowledge of. She's already remembering little things, and it's only been about a day!"

"You're right!" Aika turned incredulous blue eyes to Saya's startled maroon. "How do you know about sex and stuff?"

"I don't know," Saya confessed, a little uneasy. "I don't really remember facts... But there are feelings that I get when I'm around particular people or when someone says a particular name..."

"Wow... Looks like you and Haji will be walking off into the sunset sooner than we thought!" said Aiko, her eyes once more glazing over as her mind supplied her with images of a loving Haji lowering himself to one knee and presenting a blushing Saya with a massive diamond ring and shouting his undying affections from the mountain-tops... sigh... how sweet...

Saya and Aika giggled at the dazed eyes of the hopelessly romantic twin, before all three lay back on the bed with a sigh. "Sooo… Aiko… Still have that crush on Kunio?" said Aika slyly.

Aiko blushed. "No way," she said defensively. "He may be passably cute, but he's conceited! He's such a child, he drowns himself in books and has zero social life…"

"And you are so obviously in love," Aika finished. "When's the wedding?"

"Well, I was thinking March next year… wait… DAMN YOU, AIKA!"

Saya and Aika collapsed into a fresh bout of giggles while Aiko fumed, but it didn't take long for the crimson faced girl to join in. When all three were giggled out, they just lay there and stared at the ceiling.

"Hey, the storm's stopped," said Saya softly. All three paused to listen, and sure enough the raging winds had died down to nothing. All that remained of the violent storm was the soft typewriter patter of the rain, and soon even that faded into silence.

"David and the others will probably be arriving tomorrow then," said Aiko, yawning and settling into the mattress. "You'll love them, Saya. Lulu's still a kid, like us she won't age, but she's really sweet. David's going blind; he lost most of his sight after an unfortunate incident where bank-robber clobbered him in the temple with a pistol… David used to hunt Chiropteran, but since they were wiped out he joined the police force, same with Lewis.

"Julia's sweet. She's old now, and though she still likes to study Chiropteran and Chevalier there's not much else that she's been able to find out, so she spends most of her time acting as a housewife. She does still occasionally come and ask for some of our blood to test on, and she'll probably leave with some of yours as well, but I think she's happy just settling into the role of being a mother and wife.

"Joel you'll love, no one can help but love Joel. I know he isn't coming over right away, but he called up just before and promised me that he would definitely come soon. He's still got his wheelchair, but he's managing fine. Even managed to score himself a wife a couple of years after you sealed yourself away, but she's dead now. She died in a car accident. He misses her, but as usual he only mourned for a little while before bouncing right back…"

"It's really strange to hear about all these people like this," Saya confided. She'd already pretty much poured her heart out, she thought wryly, so why not add a little more juice to their gossip session? "I know I used to know them, but it's gonna be really weird to actually meet them. I'm kinda nervous."

"You'll love them and they'll love you," Aiko reassured her, shifting until she could pull her newest friend into a companionable one-armed hug. "You've got absolutely nothing to worry about."

"Thanks, Aiko," Saya smiled, feeling slightly reassured, though the butterflies still insisted on their square-dance deep within her belly.

"I'm going to sleep now," yawned Aika after a few moments of silence, flopping gracelessly onto the large mattress and scratching her giraffe-patterned stomach idly. "G'night."

"Goodnight," chorused the other two. Saya made to leave, but Aiko stopped her.

"You're welcome to sleep here with us tonight," she said kindly. "It's not often we make friends our own age, let alone species. For obvious reasons, we tend to avoid humans."

Nodding gratefully, Saya slipped beneath the blankets and wriggled about until she got comfortable. Smiling slightly when she felt the warmth of each twin on either side of her, it didn't take long for Saya to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Quote of the day:

The art to flying lies in the practise of throwing oneself at the ground, and missing. Pick a nice day and try it.

-Life, the Universe and Everything.

(1)Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Some of them were really inventive, others adorable. I did decide eventually though to go with Otaku Samurai (Old Yeller with rabies) and sasuxnarucute (porcupine) and... voila!

A.N. Well, nothing much else to say except a BIIIIIIG thankies to everyone who reviewed (you don't know how big a relief it is to find other people as unhealthily obsessed with Haji as me), and I promise that the story will start living up its name next chapter!

Ciao for now!


	5. Chapter 5

A.N. -sobs- I LUFFLES EVERYONE!! Everyone, you can all expect your vitual cookies in the mail. And fudge. With caramel. And sprinkles. And a cherry on top. You've all been so kind to me, and I really do apprieciate the feedback. The general consensus seems to be that the story is moving too slowly. I'm sorry if it appeared that way, I was just trying to give everyone a look into who Saya is now and how everyone's changed over the years before I thrust her into adventure, but that little monster called Plot comes skulking into the picture this chapter... Anyway, from here on in I'll have to warn you to **take the M rating seriously. **This chapter does contain some gore, and god only knows what future chapters will have... Anyway, I've babbled enough, so on with the show!!

* * *

Sunday passed without event. The afternoon was simply spent cleaning and preparing for David et al's arrival from the States while Saya got to know everyone a bit better.

Saya found a good friend in Mao, and often spoke to her of 'womanly' things.

Akihiro she wasn't so close to, but he was still a good friend and she found that he liked to talk over coffee about times past. From what little she could gather he was very fond of talking about his journalistic accomplishments, and Saya was all too happy to listen.

Kai perhaps she was the closest to, besides Haji and the twins. They didn't speak that often, but were instead perfectly content to work in silence and simply take pleasure in one another's company. He really was wonderful to her…

Haji she still knew very little about. She had found what the twins had said to be true: he was rather cold and unapproachable, and very much a man of few words. After his initial explanations and - dare she say, happiness? - the first night, he had scarcely strung four words together. Though he remained her constant shadow, the silences between them were often strained and awkward on her part, though it peeved her slightly when she realised that he seemed perfectly content when she felt so uncomfortable.

The twins she had only grown closer to. She learnt that they did not associate regularly with humans, even at school, preferring instead to keep their own company. It was something of a relief for them to at last find a friend of the same species who was, mentally, at least, their own age. Sunday night was spent the same as the night before, giggling and whispering over silly little things, and delighting in truly acting their (mental) age for once.

Come Monday morning Saya and Haji walked the twins to school, the three girls chatting quietly while Haji walked silently behind; seemingly content to be apart from the conversation he simply strolled along at his own pace, Aiko and Aika's respectively pink and green backpacks slung over his shoulder. It was a longish walk, so they had left rather early.

"This is out stop," said Aika, giving Haji and Saya a mock salute.

Chastely kissing her new friends goodbye, Saya eyed the pair protectively until they disappeared inside the large concrete building, ignoring the odd looks she was getting from the other students and teachers.

Though the twins were each about thirty years old they still went to school, since their tertiary education had been taught to them rather late in their life. Since their physical appearance altered very little as the world around them aged once they were back in Okinawa the two had managed to move through their school life, pretending to be the age they physically appeared as soon as they could get away with it.

The reason that it took them so long to go to school was because of Diva's Chiropteran, who were still at large when they were young. They simply had no time for an education when there was a world to be saved from ravenous, slavering beasts; but as soon as it had been confirmed that Chiropteran were completely wiped out the girls had gotten home-schooled for their primary education, only moving up into the public high school when the age they physically appeared to be was appropriate for the year level they would be entering. The girls were grateful to be back in the place they called home instead of chasing Chiropteran, grateful that at least for a little while they would be able to stay in one place until people started getting suspicious of their lack of aging as the years passed. Then they would simply move on to another area where they were unknown and begin a new life, moving again as the years rolled by...

As soon as the two girls disappeared completely within the throngs of students Saya turned to Haji with a small grin. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

Haji looked out into sky, a pensive gleam entering his eyes and softening the lines on his face. "Whatever you wish," he said quietly.

And so the day passed. Saya decided to simply walk around the city, she firing questions about anything and everything while Haji explained as best he could. That day she learnt what a car was, how to handle money, why the buildings were all so tall. She learnt how an apple tasted, learnt that the air smelt fresher amongst the trees. She learnt that even standing on the tallest tower, the sea of flashing lights and cold grey spires stretched out as far as even her enhanced eyesight could see…

"The twins would be leaving school about now," Saya noted idly, her maroon eyes scanning the ant-like people who scurried about far below. "We should probably head back."

Haji gathered her into his arms and waited for a minute or so, then when he sensed no eyes on their forms he leapt from the tower soundlessly, bounding lightly across the roof-tops towards the school.

* * *

"Saya! Haji!" the girls called, running up to the pair and waving their arms wildly in greeting, forcing several people to duck or be sent flying. Pushing easily through the throngs of students, Aika completely ignored anyone she bulldozed into walls or trampled on (she carried the view that if she had somewhere she wanted to go, everything should just get out of her way and allow her the quickest, easiest route, else suffer the consequences. It was a general rule that she applied to people, animals, and, on occasion, buildings) while Aiko was dragged along behind, stuttering apologies as she went to the people either crushed against the wall or groaning and twitching on the floor with waffle-shaped foot-prints on various bodily regions.

"Sorry we're a little late, principal made me stay back," said Aika by way of greeting, wrinkling her nose disdainfully. "Still dunno what about…"

"Could it be that guy you sent home with a funny walk and a lowered chance of having children?" said Aiko dryly, at last able to wrench herself free from her sister's grip. "Kicking him _there _was rather uncalled for…"

"The filthy pervert groped me," Aika sniffed, while Aiko rolled her eyes. Saya was biting her lip very hard, and didn't dare look at Haji for fear that she would burst out laughing. She couldn't help but think back to when she first met the Chevalier with a grin. Great minds _do _think alike…

"What on earth happened?" Saya asked, her lips twitching.

"He felt me up, I kneed him, not much to say," said Aika with a shrug. "I did get into a bit of trouble with principal Yamaguchi though." She pursed her lips and screwed her eyes, wagging her finger as she croaked out: "Aika, you are a positively feral child. You act in a way unbefitting of a lady, and I dare say were this school a boat, you would have rocked it enough to capsize."

Saya did burst out laughing then, as did the twins, and even Haji gave a small smile. "Sounds like a right crotchety old woman," said Saya between giggles.

"Oh, you have no idea. This one time…"

The entire walk home was spent swapping tales of unfortunate or un-liked teachers. Aiko had just finished telling the others of Taisho-sensei, who apparently liked her short skirts, and spent the whole day walking around clueless of the little blue string that dangled from between her thighs (the girls had to explain to Saya what a tampon was, though they didn't use them themselves. Apparently it was just a human thing. Nonetheless, it was an embarrassing few minutes for all concerned, especially for the eaves-dropping Haji), when Saya cursed.

"Damn," she muttered. "I meant to do some errand for Kai, but completely forgot."

"We'll be home soon," Aiko assured the older girl, shading her eyes as she squinted up at the late afternoon sun. "It'll probably be dark by the time you get home from whatever he has you doing, it being winter and all, but if Haji tags along everything should be alright."

"Do you mind, Haji?" Saya queried tentatively, breathing out a relieved sigh when her Chevalier promptly shook his head in the negative. "I guess I'll head out as soon as we get back, and maybe we'll make it home again before sun down."

Of course that didn't happen. The moment she walked in the door Saya was dragged off by Mao, who needed her advice. The two spent a good while talking about what shade of green would best match the oak of Mao's apartment, before a bored looking Haji glanced pointedly at the clock on the wall and then back at Saya, who gasped in remembrance.

"Shoot! I forgot again… Alright, just let me find Kai and we'll be off."

Accepting a goodbye kiss from Mao and giving a last quick word of advice (Your oak is rather red, so perhaps a darker shade, like bottle green?) she scuttled away, calling for her brother.

"There you are," breathed Kai, relieved at having found her. "I didn't realise until this afternoon, but the storm cut out the power. I can't call a taxi to pick up David and the others from the airport, so you're going to have to go straight to the company office. It's not far, just down past Kanna's dress-shop then right at the park…"

Saya nodded dutifully, mentally mapping out the city that she had only just explored and finding the appropriate roads. "I think I know the way," she said at last, gesturing for Haji to precede her out the door. "I guess I'll be seeing you soon."

"Don't take too long," Kai called back. "It'll be getting dark soon."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. Haji's here with me, after all!"

Completely oblivious to the odd gleam in Haji's eyes at her confident statement, Saya strode past him and onto the street.

* * *

Of course, by the time the pair left the cab company it had already been dark out for about an hour.

Saya shivered. She hadn't realised how creepy the city was at night time. It would have been fine if they were in the actual CBD, which remained bustling with all kinds of people and attractions until all hours. But the cab company was just on the city outskirts, and here there was a disturbingly thick silence that settled over everything. It was as though the whole place was holding its breath in suspense. What looked like quaint and welcoming areas in the light now looked like places of shady dealings, where crooks and druggies skulked in the shadows and eyes glinted from doorways, and where prostitutes advertised their wares…

Saya stiffened suddenly, her eyes glowing faintly in the weak lamp light and darting about as she tried to pinpoint the malignant auras that prickled the back of her neck. "Do you feel that?" she whispered to Haji, unconsciously shifting closer to him.

He nodded, but seemed unconcerned. "Humans. Most of them are intoxicated, by the smell. I will not let them harm you."

The youths, who were not yet aware that their prey knew full well where they were, continued to stalk the pair. Haji narrowed his eyes when he sensed more humans coming from in front of them, and more still to the side and from behind.

The couple were fully surrounded.

Haji was not overly worried, but still yanked Saya behind him. When it came to her safety he was not willing to take chances.

A couple of the young men stepped out from the shadows, obviously realising that their presence had been discovered. About three swaggered forward – all greasy hair and tattered clothes, reeking of booze and sex – and leered at Saya, dismissing Haji entirely. The maroon eyed girl shrank behind her protector.

"Well, what a hot little number you are," one whistled, looking Saya up and down and smirking when Haji's body shifted to conceal her from his lustful gaze. "Why don't you leave pretty scar-face here and come have some fun with us?" More men stepped out, all holding various weapons and chuckling amongst themselves. "We promise to make it worth your while."

Haji slipped silently into an offensive stance, his taut posture and flashing grey eyes warning the boys more effectively than any words could have of the consequences any more careless words would incite. They only sniggered though, and at last all of them were revealed in the weak lamplight.

"There's twenty of us and one of you, pretty boy," drawled one, cocking a pistol with infuriating cool. "Why don't you just hand over your girl and we'll let you run away in one piece?"

"Haji?" Saya whispered nervously, her breath warm against his back. He grasped her hand reassuringly with his own twisted one, his warped fingers folding awkwardly around her slender appendage. No harm would come to her this night.

One of the boys at last shot forward, grinning widely, the crowbar in his hands raised high as he darted for Haji…

And then a horrible _crunch _sounded and he stumbled back with a sharp cry, the bar clattering to the ground as his hands flew to his face. Blood spurted messily from his crushed nose, splattering in alarmingly copious amounts onto the concrete below. Bright red liquid seeped between his clenched fingers as he fell, screeching, to the ground. Haji casually flicked spots of crimson from his knuckles, regarding the remaining youths with cool disdain.

They were white with fury. "Get 'im!" they yelled, all bellowing their own war cries as they lumbered forward, primitive weapons in hand.

Haji took them all down easily, both protecting the motionless Saya and knocking about the rough youths effortlessly. His eyes narrowed as one boy, whose shovel-like hands were adorned with a glittering array of brass knuckles, wove between his companions while looking for an opening, face set in dumb concentration. Haji easily read his intent and gripped the shirt collar of another youth and _twisted_, using the force behind the move to propel himself out of striking distance and into the air, flipping over the choked human so that the brass-knuckled boy's hand collided with the wall instead of his target's face, breaking two fingers. The injured boy screamed in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his wrist and staring at his twisted fingers in horror. He made a clumsy grab at the pistol that was tucked into his trouser waistband with his good hand, but Haji easily kicked the weapon from his trembling fingers. The boy fell to the ground in a dead faint.

The one-sided battle only grew more intense, the boys growing desperate as Haji simply dodged their weapons with infuriating ease. Leaping and darting gracefully Haji evaded any fence-posts, iron bars and broken bottles that were swung his way, and when this grew tiresome a well placed kick here, an elbow jab there, and it was no time at all until twelve of the twenty youths were groaning or unconscious on the concrete, nursing wounds of varying severity.

Haji flicked his wrist, sending droplets of blood flying from his knuckles as he watched the remaining eight scarper. Though they had insulted Saya's honour they were not fundamentally wicked boys, and he did not believe in the killing of children anyway. Even those knocked unconscious would be fine after a maximum of a month bed rest. He turned and offered Saya his arm, wanting to leave.

Haji was slightly uneasy to find that Saya had yet to move from where she had frozen when he broke the first boy's nose. She was trembling lightly, her fingers grasping at air and her breathing coming in light pants. Her long hair shielded her face, the dark strands hanging limply and fluttering with the quivering of her limbs.

"Saya?"

Her head snapped upwards, violently glowing crimson eyes staring sightlessly before her. Her mouth twisted and her eyes widened to the point of being grotesque, and her dainty little tongue swiped at the single spot of blood that had landed on her cheek. "Hungry," she gasped, her eyes darting around. They narrowed when they landed on the unconscious boys, and her lips stretched into a maniacal grin. "Hungry!"

She darted forward with the grace of a predator, her unnaturally long canines flashing in the lamplight. She snarled when Haji stepped in her path and lowered herself to all fours, bristling like a starved animal. "Hungry!" she hissed, her gaze feral. "Blood!"

Bounding forward she easily slipped past her protector and immediately latched onto a boy's neck, draining him of his life's fluid. A droplet trickled down his neck as she gulped down all he could offer, and even in his unconscious state he moaned in agony at the feel of her teeth buried in his flesh.

"Saya," Haji whispered. Her eyes darted warily to meet his, but she did not retract her teeth from the rapidly paling boy's neck. "You will regret this when you wake, Saya. I apologise, but I must stop you from doing this."

Saya only snarled her challenge, dragging her prey with her as she jumped backward. Both Chiropteran and Chevalier stiffened when they heard the frightened yelp coming from the shadows of a nearby alley, and Haji was inwardly dismayed to see that the boys who had run had returned for the other members of their gang, obviously figuring that Haji and Saya had left by now. They were very, very wrong. Fatally wrong.

"What the fuck is she?" one whispered, gripping his dagger close and staring with horror as a crimson droplet – dull compared to the preternatural light in her gleaming red orbs – dribbled from one elongated canine tooth down her chin. All held their breath as her crimson-stained tongue swiped at the red streak, eyes closing blissfully as she took a short moment to savour the salty, coppery tang. And then there was a blur of movement, and then she was _on top of them, _biting and clawing and shredding their flesh, her teeth sinking into muscle and tearing through to the bone.

Haji tried to hold her back but she only swiped him away with a snarl, leaving him with four crimson lines streaking across the silver scar on his cheek. One more devastatingly accurate swing threw him into a wall, clouds of dust swirling and stone crumbling from the force of the blow.

She was a blur of movement, and even the winded Haji was hard pressed to hold her back. Blood spattered and pooled along the stretch of pavement, half-chewed limbs and ragged slices of flesh lying in gruesome puddles of gore (_and they ran but she was everywhere above below and now she was inside and how was it that one woman could turn them into frightened children again_) and their screams echoed for miles, (_louder and louder until throats bled and tore and couldn't scream anymore_) as did the sound of ripping flesh and bodies being dragged along cold concrete (_and everything was reduced to teeth and fingers – delicate fingers reaching in and pulling out, snapping, shredding_). And then, perhaps even more troubling, there was silence.

Haji and Saya stood alone in a sea of blood and broken bodies, both saturated with the crimson fluid, and Haji bleeding steadily from an already healing wound in his shoulder that Saya herself inflicted in her insanity. Both were panting lightly, the sound disturbingly loud even compared to the agonised wails that had sounded almost moments ago. Somewhere nearby, blood dripped steadily.

Saya eyed the strange prey before her warily, lapping at the blood that lay caked beneath her claws.

Her mind was a maze of suspicions and confused thoughts. Though the majority of her mind was screaming for more death and her own blood was singing with the thrill of slaughter, there was a smaller part that was insisting that the one before her was not to die. The voice was small but persistent, and after a few long moments it managed to override her blood-lust. It wasn't long, though, before she felt a different kind of lust curling in her abdomen and sparking in her blood deliciously, and the voice of sanity was drowned out by the rush of heat that told her that though this one was not for killing, there were other ways in which a man's body could be… useful…

* * *

A.N. Cliffy? Where's the cliffie? I don't see a-- AAAARGH! -rolls down a cliff and splatters onto the ground-

-twitching- OK, I found the cliffie.

Not much to say this time around, except WOOT! PLOT! I haven't quite decided yet which chapter it's going to happen in, but for everyone who's so kindly (and, on occasion, not so kindly) requested that Saya get her memories back soon, it **will **be happening. Just don't ask me when. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this update, and I'll leave you with your quote and a request to please REVIEW!

Quote of the day:

Stewie: Hello, operator? Hello? Oh God, that's right, you have to punch the numbers in nowadays. I should know this... oh yes, 867-5309, that's it. No wait, that's not it. Damn you, Tommy Tutone! -sighs- Only one thing to do. 111-1111. Lois? Damn! 111-1112. Lois? Damn! 111-1113...

(Tommy Tutone was a rock band, 867-5309 was one of their hit songs... don't ask.)

-This quote, brought to you by Family Guy (I love that show!)


	6. Chapter 6

A.N. Thankyou so much everyone for your reviews! -gestures to her inbox and beams- I think I'm the first person in history to say I'm so damn happy that I'm drowning in emails! (I made the mistake of telling my mum that. She is a business woman, so is always getting heaps of emails. It took her about three days before she could speak to me without frothing. I think she feels that I'm making a mockery of her pain). But, everyone's been so -blush- enthusuastic. Thanks a lot, you've all done WONDERS for my ego (not that it needs any more inflating, _believe _me).

I finally know now where this story's going to go, and while this chapter is just a boring explanation chapter, next chapter is when everything picks up again. -scuffs her feet- Sorry, by the way, about the late update. Aside from this chapter giving me a bit of grief- apparently Microsoft and Satan have had a bastard love child, otherwise known as my computer... Seriously, I hate the hunk of junk. It ate three chapters of one of my stories, not this one though, thank god. -sigh- Oh, well. On with the next chapter!

* * *

Saya sighed, kicking her legs back and forth idly. She was currently sitting on a window sill in the living area at the back of the Omoro restaurant, gazing outside, too lost in her thoughts to pay attention to the others in the room. Julia was there, as were David and Lewis, while Lulu and the twins were off talking somewhere else. She had yet to be properly introduced to anyone. Everyone, especially Saya herself, were still in shock…

"With the given evidence, I think I can hazard a guess as to what happened," said Julia softly, and Saya forced her mind back to the present. The elderly woman gave Saya a sympathetic smile, tucking a long strand of snow-white hair behind her ear before adjusting the spectacles that rested low on her nose. "It's just a theory, but... well, Chiropteran aren't human. Though they carry a human appearance their instincts and natural behaviours are very much those of a wild animal. Lewis, can you tell me, in what ways are humans different to animals?"

The elderly Lewis – still overweight and bald, and not much different to how he looked in the photos Saya'd seen from thirty years ago except for a few wrinkles here and there – looked taken aback, then thoughtful. "Well," he said slowly. "Animals hunt for their food, while humans don't anymore. Wild animals are very territorial, and generally don't have the ability to reason. They're very protective of their own. They have different hierarchies to humans. They breed in the spring…" Lewis paused, understanding dawning. "They have a time of heat!"

Julia nodded, pleased. "That's what I thought. While humans can feel the desire to partake in sexual intercourse at pretty much any given time, in general animals will only get the overwhelming urge to mate during a particular time of year. Saya, now that your body is physically ready to bear children, you too have this irresistible desire. Diva probably felt it as well, and I'll guess that she felt it about the same time that you started feeling attracted to Haji, except that she acted on it before it could get as out of control as your desires have."

"I feel it even now," Saya admitted, resting a slender hand over her throbbing abdomen. Haji could not be in her presence, and as much as it pained both of them he had been sent outside while the humans discussed Saya's problems. Whenever she caught sight of him her blood would heat and her breath would quicken, and her eyes would get the glow that was normally only associated with her bloodlust… and she would have to be restrained until Haji left her sight and she returned to normal. She had felt the hunger before in smaller doses, but the need she felt pulse through her now was just painful…

Saya's body suddenly and without warning lurched forward, her arms flying out to grip the window frame in an attempt at steadying herself. Julia scrambled to her feet with a cry of alarm when Saya began trembling uncontrollably, but the elderly woman was assured between pained gasps that the sensations were nothing that the battle-hardened Chiropteran couldn't handle. Sure enough, after a few long moments of forcibly calm breathing, Saya had settled enough to retract her elongated claws from where they tore deep gouges in the window frame, and her eyes dulled back to maroon, though they were still rimmed with crimson.

"This must be your first season of heat," murmured Julia apologetically, settling back down into her seat. "There's not really that much we can do. The only way to stop it that I can think of is an operation, like getting a dog de-sexed. It may stop the urges, but such an operation would be very permanent."

"Why is she only attracted to Haji?" David mused, rubbing the grey stubble on his chin and staring short sightedly through unfocused blue eyes up at the ceiling. His vision was less than perfect after that nasty blow to the head, and he found it difficult to focus a lot of the time. "Is it because he's the strongest male, while Saya is the dominant female? But, that still wouldn't make sense, because it's not like Haji can give her children or anything, which is the entire point of the heat. Surely her instincts would recognise Haji's impotence…?"

"I'm still not sure about that," Julia admitted. "I have some theories, but each is more unlikely than the next."

"What do you think is the most likely reason?" Kai demanded softly but vehemently. "Why is this happening to Saya and Haji? Why is my baby sister hurting so badly?"

"You do realise that Saya is about a century older than yourself, don't you?" Julia said ironically, then sighed when Kai gave a frustrated growl. "This is just a shot in the dark, but I think that it's because though Saya is a Chiropteran, she has grown up in a human world." Julia explained her theory distractedly, cleaning her spectacle lenses on her blouse as she spoke. "She has had human morals, values and beliefs pounded into her since she was born, and has lived as a human all her life. Like a wild animal that's been domesticated, if you'll excuse the analogy. For example, though instinct may tell a dog to go through garbage in search of food, if they have had human views, namely that such an action is disgusting and a nuisance, ingrained, they will do it no more and instead only accept food from their master or mistress." Julia sighed at the blank looks she received. "Saya, don't you love Kai? Don't you love the twins?"

"Of course," said Saya at once, puzzled at the seemingly unrelated question.

"And love is a very human emotion. As far as we know, no other animal experiences it. The whole practise of mating and forming bonds is simply to find a strong partner and secure the next generation, but Saya has already proven that she has the capabilities to feel an emotional connection beyond that. She sees Kai and the twins as important figures who need protecting."

"Or it could mean nothing," David interrupted. "Many animals are known to be protective of their own."

"Yes, yes, but though she could have subconsciously sensed the similarities in hers and the twins blood and thus called to the surface her maternal instincts, and could also have recognised Haji in the same way; there is absolutely nothing about Kai to suggest that they are surrogate siblings and that she should protect him other than the feeling of love, which is powerful enough that she recalls it. She is beginning to remember already sensations and emotions if not actual events, and that these feelings of love and protection have come through first could be important in figuring out why she's acting like she is."

There was a long pause as everyone thought this over.

"I believe that Saya loves Haji, or at least used to," Julia continued solemnly. "Like most human relationships, the love she feels defies all reason and profits her in no way, but she still feels the emotion. Can't help but feel the emotion. Doesn't everyone always say that love is madness? My theory is that Saya's animal body responded to this human love accordingly, making her physically yearn for Haji, and intensifying the feeling until her desires drove her to madness."

There was another long pause.

"Your theories have merit, dear," said David after some length, looking over at his wife through cloudy periwinkle eyes. "You're probably right. Now the question is… what do we do about it?"

"That, I do not know," said Julia with a sigh. "Either Saya waits the heat out, or she succumbs to it. I see no other option."

Everyone shared a worried look when Saya's body was once again racked with painful spasms. She trembled and gasped brokenly, and images from a scarce few hours before played out before her blank red eyes as she succumbed to the memories...

* * *

A demonic looking Saya licked her lips, her hungry eyes slowly running up and down Haji's bloodied form. She crawled forward toward his battered body steadily, balanced with deadly grace on the balls of her bare feet and on her knuckles. She moved soundlessly, her deranged eyes never leaving those of her latest prey. Her cruelly tapered claws didn't click, nor did her blood-soaked clothes make a sound dragging across the crimson stained concrete. The world seemed to hold its breath. There was no noise at all.

Her nostrils quivered and her pupils adjusted in the darkness, her senses reading her surroundings as easily as an open book. She smirked wickedly, her parted ruby lips revealing a dazzle of light that gleamed off bloodied fangs.

The excitement was welling within her. Her limbs were trembling in anticipation, and her breaths were coming faster in silent pants that made her breast flutter. Some unexplored place deep in her abdomen throbbed, flooding her entire body with delicious heat. Her scent spiked, and she groaned softly as the musk of her arousal thickened in the air, almost unbearable paired with the salty copper tang of freshly spilt blood.

She whined, a thin keening that no human throat could ever hope to sound. She desperately needed relief. She didn't know how and didn't care why – all she knew was that her body was aching, and that the man before her had the cure. Reflexively, her hips jolted forward.

The strange prey was standing stock still, blue-grey eyes focused on her unflinchingly. Some hidden part of herself despaired, but the throb in the apex of her thighs overwhelmed the brief flash of helpless sorrow easily. She snarled as the dull pain intensified, crouching low and tensing the muscles in her legs until they quivered. This ended now.

She pounced...

… And then she was screaming out in pain, clutching her hands to her head and wailing into the chilled night air.

She was suddenly surrounded by shadowy creatures whose cacophony of voices, panicked and gratingly loud, garbled indecipherable strings of gibberish that made her head spin. She lashed out blindly, yowling her outrage when strong somethings pinioned her arms to her torso. She bucked and writhed, furiously spitting and squirming in a vain attempt at loosening her bonds.

She was barely aware of the helpless tears that streamed down her cheeks as intense jolts of pain lanced through her, the ache in her groin intensifying until it was searing hot fire that blistered her insides. She sobbed as she struggled, weakly now, bent double as the spasms brought her to her knees. She was vaguely aware of the angry voices turning concerned, of desperate hands tearing away her bonds. Blue-grey eyes wide with panic filled her vision, before everything turned black and she knew no more.

* * *

Saya sat on the windowsill still, the surrounding frame gouged in various places where her demonically curved fingernails had clenched the wood hard enough to leave inch-deep marks. Her memories of her brief insanity were limited, but she knew that Aiko and Aika had been the ones to alert the others to the uncharacteristically savage turn to her nature. Apparently as she could somehow sense them and recognise their blood as family, they too shared a bond with her, and could on some level tell when her demonic Chiropteran blood boiled to the surface. They were, after all, real blood family, and the animal that hungered deep inside all three of them obviously recognised and responded to that. She had been assured that this was natural, as before her big sleep she could sense Diva in the same way. Nothing specific, just… feelings.

Back in the alley, Saya had been restrained by the newly arrived David, Lewis, and the surprisingly powerful Lulu until the pain of her unsated heat had eventually knocked her out. Next thing she knew she was back at Omoro, unable to so much as look at Haji without feeling the raging and frankly embarrassing desire to… well, _jump his bones_, in Aika's blunt words.

There were still some things that she didn't understand, but Julia had explained everything pretty well, even if her words were just an educated guess. In a nutshell, her Chiropteran 'beast,' as they had decided to name her inhuman instincts to avoid confusion, had been unleashed now that she was physically able to bare children, and she was currently in the middle of her 'heat' that had become unbearably intense since she hadn't responded to it, even after all those years. Without the iron control over her instincts that she had before her sleep, Saya had no clue how to quell her desires. She felt helpless, and surprisingly lonely now that her Chevalier 'shadow' of three days (had it only been three days?) could not be in her presence.

It was her human love for the Chevalier that first ignited the flame, her time of heat had just fanned the spark until it grew into a raging inferno of overwhelming proportions. Times like this, Saya longed for her memories with a fervour bordering on desperation. Perhaps there was some clue in her past to overcome this primal need… She groaned, muttering frustrated expletives under her breath (she really had to spend less time around Aika), and whacked her head painfully against the window frame. She stared dully out the window at the glittering lights of the city, wishing that the answers would just come to her somehow…

* * *

Haji sat alone on the roof, his cello case beside him. He honestly didn't know why he carried it – it wasn't as if he could play his cello anymore, he thought, looking at his twisted hand somewhat resentfully – but the familiar presence was somehow soothing, and he supposed that it did remind him of happier times with his beloved Saya.

Since confessing his love all those years ago, Haji admitted to acting and thinking in ways that were perhaps not typical of his usual behaviour. When he learnt that Saya had fallen asleep before he could find her and tell her that he lived still, he had distanced himself from his companions as he had done all those years ago after the Vietnam incident, just travelling aimlessly around Okinawa. He was never far from his lady, though. If anything happened he would be the first to know, which was just how it should be. He would protect her, even while she slept the decades away. He sighed inaudibly, looking once again to his cello case.

While he was joyful that Saya's instincts saw him as a potential mate, he had to think of his lady's welfare first and foremost. If she wished for him to keep his distance to save him from her inner beast's desires, well, he would respect that, and follow through with the vow he had made the night that she awoke. He supposed that after only three days of being technically alive, this was a lot to take in. She needed time to accept her feelings, time to understand what exactly was going on with her, time to understand both who she was and who he was, never mind the time she'd need to understand where they stood as a couple… Haji settled further into himself, the rising sun glinting in his eyes and lending hues of gold to his raven hair. It seemed hopeless, but he was confidant that his lady Saya would overcome her obstacles as always.

It would be difficult, but... Haji clenched his warped and twisted hand as the first golden lights of dawn kissed the horizon, his fingers somehow curling into a determined fist. Even if it was only from the sidelines, he vowed silently, it was his duty and his want to support his lady and her wishes till the very end. And he would.

* * *

A.N. Phew. _Well. _Was it very confusing? I explained it as best I could, but though I knew myself why everything was happening as it was, it was quite a different thing to get it all down in black and white. Aside from my computer being a bastard that's the main reason that this chapter was a little late, I actually think that this is my fourth draft or something... I dunno, I think I went OK, but if you have any questions just tell me in a review and I might set up a little Q&A at the start of the next chapter.

I think that everything I've mentioned sounds feasible without straying from the ideals of the anime, but if you find any major loopholes in my reasoning don't hesitate to tell me, and I'll think of something so explain them away. I'm trying to keep this as realistic as possible.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and THANKYOU everyone for the reviews, again! Virtual cookies for everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

A.N. Hello, everyone! I'm back!! Thanks to everyone who asked, I did have a lovely time up in Germany with my Oma and Opa, but unfortunately didn't get as much writing done as I would have liked since unknown to me my cousins were coming along as well. Azusa, the youngest, is a bit too young to be doing anything really cute, but her sister Kanako has just turned two, and is ADORABLE!! Like, we were playing hide-and-seek, and while seeking her I walked into the kitchen and saw her crouched in the corner with a tea towel draped over her face. She's so darn cute...

Anyway, though I didn't get much writing done I did do a lot of thinking, and I've decided that this chapter here -points downward- is something of a turning point. While I was up in Germany the plot bunny made camp in my mind, and so now I have two alternate ways that this story could go. I personally don't really care either way since I have great ideas for both, but thought that I'd put them out there in case you, the reader, would prefer one over the other or have a better idea that perhaps hadn't occured to me. They are:

1) the story continues how I originally intended it to. Not all that long, not an abundance of plot, and more fluffy and lemony than anything else.

2) the plot that came to me in Germany takes place, that is, the story is a bit longer with lots of plot and real character development and a little bit of angst rather than fluff, but still pretty lemony, if not straight away. It occured to me that the Blood+ anime is really an angsty story, and since this is intended to be a continuation perhaps I should stick with the intended genre.

So, that's how the story can go. When you review, I'd apprieciate it a lot if you'd tell me which version you'd prefer, otherwise I'll go with option 2 just because that's the one I have the most ideas for. Thanks a lot for sticking with me!

* * *

Days passed in an indistinct blur. She could hear people talking, but paid them no mind. She didn't care. Right now, she just wanted to be left alone.

Saya sighed to herself miserably, gathering the blankets tighter about herself and gazing dully out the window. Mao was knocking at the door again, pleading for her to come out and eat something. She knew she should, she was feeling rather weak, but she just couldn't rouse herself long enough to make her way to the door.

Contrary to how it may appear, Saya was neither depressed, nor contemplating suicide. She was contemplating, certainly, but the option of taking her own life had never even occurred to her. She was, though, thinking of the lives that she had taken, and feeling horrible. The guilt writhed in her mind like a red worm, taunting her with images of bloodied hands and faces twisted in masks of hopeless terror.

She had been doing some thinking these past couple of days, though she had come to very few conclusions, and raised more questions than ever. Though she was beginning to remember some vague aspects of her past life there were some things that still didn't make sense to her, and it unnerved her. She wasn't really sure how much of her newly discovered personality was really herself, and how much of it was her Chiropteran nature that had bled into her behaviour and manipulated her actions. Was she naturally someone who took lives mercilessly, or was it her blood talking? Whatever the case, she knew that she would be feeling absolutely terrible for ages…

She shook her head, releasing another sigh. She had been in the spare room for three days, she supposed, though she wasn't keeping count. In that time she had thought long and hard about everything that had happened to date, but had still come to no solid conclusions. Honestly, she was feeling overwhelmed. Since she thought that she was taking the whole 'mass slaughter' thing very well, considering the circumstances, she could only come to the depressing revelation that nothing had really sunk in yet. Try as she might to focus on her problems and properly sort everything out, whenever she thought that she was getting somewhere she was always rudely interrupted…

She gasped and jerked forward suddenly, trembling lightly as electricity sparked deep in her marrow. No, she pleaded when her eyes began to burn. Not now, not again!

She screwed her eyes shut as her fingernails bit cruel crescents into her palm, bracing herself for the expected rush of agony that would flood her limbs with flashes of white-hot pain and bring her to her knees, but to her shock it never came. Instead, she found herself battling fiercely with her own blood, trying in vain to quell the beast that struggled to the surface. She panicked; this had never happened before, and while the usual pain was uncomfortable at least she knew how to just wait it out. For once her body didn't seem intent on procreation; instead she was overwhelmed with fierce feelings of anger and the need to defend, her mind snarling the bestial mantra _protect_ _mine, protect mine, protect mine!_

She helplessly felt her consciousness sink into oblivion as somewhere deep inside things were realigned and altered into something inhuman; her incisors slid over her lips, and her eyes burned as they heated from within, her nostrils quivering as they tested the air. Before she could so much as draw breath her body had hurled itself out the window, spraying a fine cloud of glass fragments over the outside pavement, and then she was sprinting with speed born of unnamed panic along the streets, nothing more than a blur.

* * *

It had been three days. Three long, uneventful days. Three days without Saya.

Haji wondered the streets, thinking idly to himself and just aimlessly walking. He never strayed out of hearing distance of Saya though, so he would be instantly alerted if something threatened her. If someone were that foolish, consequences be damned, he would run to her rescue. Nothing would ever hurt her, not as long as he lived.

Of course, there were some things not even he could protect her from… but he wouldn't think of that right now. Saya was strong, and while some of her memories may hurt her for a while, it was something she would work through herself.

She was so much more at peace as she was now, innocent, like an infant. She smiled and laughed and wasn't afraid to show affection to the people she cared about as she never had before; she had always been afraid to get close to people because people die, and watching people you love die hurts. It doesn't hurt so much if who you're watching is a stranger.

Before her sleep, she had killed and cut and murdered in cold blood, and you could see that in her eyes, in the way she held herself and the way her hands hovered over her sword even in sleep. He couldn't help but wonder, should a Chiropteran suddenly appear, whether or not present time Saya would know which end of the sword to stick into the bad guy (assuming that the newly discovered 'beast' did not interfere, anyway). He wasn't certain whether or not to be glad for the change…

Haji sighed mentally. Saya had made some tough choices, not all of them good choices or fair choices. But then again sometimes her options weren't good or fair. Like how she'd had to kill all those Chiropteran. While at first she'd been uneasy and sad and guilty from all the blood on her hands, toward the end she had understood. Killing them was the kindest thing she could do for them. Because, there were those times when medicines were no help and the human body was hopelessly lost inside layers of foreign skin, writhing in a rage of pain in a body that had become its own enemy… when the soul was in a prison of flesh and bone, and beyond salvation. The kindest thing she could have done was given them the quick and most often painless release from the agony of having your soul drown in the blood of a monster that she had, and that was all there was to it.

And that had been a choice she'd made.

There were other times when she'd had to make choices. Ridiculous choices, some of them, with no real answer and consequences either way. But she'd had to choose, and quickly. Was it right to trust the Sifs? Was killing her own father the only way? Was she foolish for conversing politely with Solomon, the sworn enemy? If she had insisted Kai and Riku stay home in Okinawa, would Diva have never hurt them, or would the child-like girl have found other ways to break her sister's heart? Who knew the real answers to what should have happened?

But still, Saya'd had to choose. Some of her choices were right, some were wrong, sometimes rightness and wrongness weren't clear and sometimes she was even deciding between two kinds of wrong, and there was no real right anywhere. She'd done things and been places, she'd given up a lot but she'd learnt so much… and in a short ninety or so years, no one, not even Saya herself, would remember the way she agonised over what to do, or the way she sometimes cried when the pressures and monsters and scars and memories of scars threatened to crush her.

She'd never asked for anything in return for her suffering. But, the problem with asking for nothing in return, is that most times that's all you ever got. Nothing. Just wounds, bloody memories, and tormented thoughts. What had she ever received for her toils? Everyone else had been rewarded… everyone else was right now living safely and happily, wrapped tight and warm under layers of innocence and naivety, while Saya was away battling in their name. And what had she ever earned?

Things were never simple.

Though things had been vaguely explained to her, it was one thing to be told what you did and what was done to you, and entirely another to intimately know the wounds and the pools of blood, to remember the wails of the dying and the empty or tortured expressions of the dead. She had killed, killed recently, but then her thoughts were clouded and her consciousness overwhelmed; she had no real memory of flesh tearing and corpses dragging and blood draining into the gutters. Before her sleep, when she had killed her awareness was sharp, her mind focused on nothing but spilling blood, her battered hands determinedly gripping her sword tight in a sweaty, exhausted hold.

It would be hard. Impossible, even. How would present Saya react, knowing that the cool and collected and thoroughly practised killing machine in her mind… was her? It was what he feared, though he never voiced it. It was a foolish fear, anyway, since it was inevitable, and there was nothing he could do. Everyone would deal just with it as it came… Haji paused.

There was noise. Quiet, but urgent. Then came the buzz of a radio, followed by pockets of muted sound moving with practised stealth along the street, the sound inaudible to human ears. Almost undetectable. Almost, but not quite.

Haji narrowed his eyes, surreptitiously scanning the area as he continued to walk as though he had noticed nothing. A ripple of movement, and he heard the soft throbs of several cars following him stealthily, and saw concealed men positioning themselves around him and levelling their weapons. He narrowed his eyes further, but continued to walk at the same even pace. He could not run without being noticed now.

"You! Stop right there!" a voice hollered. "Put your hands in the air and drop to your knees! You're surrounded!"

There was no way they could mean anyone other than him, the streets were all but deserted. He stiffened in realisation. The boys, the boys from the gang that had taunted Saya and he. One must have survived and given the police Saya and his descriptions… He had to admit, he was pretty difficult to mistake in a place full of Japanese people – he was, after all, a tall and pale man with a long scar down his face, two bung hands, blue eyes and a trench coat.

Sighing, Haji did as he was told. He could always bust out later, but he could not risk using his superior abilities to escape, as everyone had worked hard to keep the existence of Chiropteran and Chevalier a secret. To reveal that they did indeed live would indirectly place Saya in danger. The last thing anyone needed was masses of frightened and angry people hunting for 'witches' or 'demons,' or whatever people of this era would label her as. Everyone who had belonged to Red Shield before its termination after the extinction of the Chiropteran had managed to mostly cover up or explain away the events of thirty years ago, and he wasn't about to spoil all of that by growing wings and soaring out of firing range.

He dropped gracefully to his knees and put his hands behind his head, the perfect vision of untroubled acceptance. A couple of uniformed men approached, one with a gun still trained on him warily, the other looking down his nose at the kneeling Haji as though he were some commoner unworthy of his precious time. Slender handcuffs were snapped around his wrists. Haji tested them stealthily. They would give a human trouble, but they were nothing he couldn't handle.

"You have the right to remain silent," the cockier of the two officers recited, the smug mask of virtue triumphant twisting what should have been handsome features into something oily and cruel. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…" and Haji promptly tuned out.

"Hey!" A voice sounded, loud and angry, and there was a ripple of disturbance amongst the ranks. Haji had to bite his tongue to keep from saying somehing completely out of character from his place on the asphalt. This just kept getting better…

Kai stalked forward, fury etched in the lines of his face and flashing in his brown eyes. The years may have matured him somewhat, but they hadn't rid him of his horrible timing and need to help everyone he cared about. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Please stay back, sir," one of the officers warned, stepping in the path of the angry man and attempting to keep him from advancing. "This man is guilty of killing nineteen men, leaving only one alive but with serious injuries. Please leave the area, or be taken in as well for interfering with an arrest."

"I know the guy," Kai argued heatedly. He had been around David and Lewis long enough to know when someone was serious about shooting him, and though some officers did have their weapons trained on him he was positive that he would escape this unharmed. "He didn't do anything!"

"That's where you're wrong, old man," sneered the arrogant officer who had recited Haji's rights. He swaggered forward, his badge glinting, and smugness rolling off of him in waves. "He's committed a crime, see, so we have to take him in." He leant in close to Kai, and his breath stank of coffee and stale cigarettes. "And you better keep out of our way," he simpered, the nasty gleam of triumph never leaving his eyes, "or you'll be coming with us, but you'll have a broken nose."

"Yusuke," another officer warned (A.N. No, not _the_ Yusuke. This isn't a Yu Yu cross-over. I'm just terribly unimaginative when it comes it names). "Leave it and come on."

"Nah, nah," Yusuke waved them off. "I wanna know whether or not the geezer wants to come along for the ride." He smirked, and his self-righteousness was sickening. "Well, grandpa? What do you say?"

Kai was white with fury.

Fifty wasn't all that old, even for a human, but a lifetime of battles and hardships had aged him long before his time. Kai had almost single-handedly driven the Chiropteran into extinction, and the sacrifice was that his bones were prematurely brittle and sore, his face was heavily lined and etched deep with exhaustion, and his hair was full of grey when he was barely forty. He walked with a slight limp; his right leg had been crushed by the massive corpse of a Chiropteran and it hadn't healed properly. On rainy days it ached. His leathery body was riddled with scars, the pink and silver slashes slicing through tortured skin. He had suffered. He was lonely, and had grown up long before his time. He had never dated, let alone taken a wife. He was so, so weary… And some cocky officer with greasy hair and a slimy smile wasn't going to make a mockery of everything he had worked for and achieved. Righteous fury flashed in his eyes.

"Listen to me and listen good, you smarmy, self-righteous son of a bitch," Kai hissed, and his voice was venom. His eyes burned black, and his lips were twisted into a hateful sneer. The years had taught him well. Too well.

"You think you're so hot, because you got a badge? Well, let me tell you this now, bastard, you're nothing more than a pathetic tub of lard who thinks he rules the world because daddy dished out some money. For all your big talk and big guns you're just a kid in a uniform, and it disgusts me that a slimy bastard like you was even allowed to join the force."

Kai's voice lowered, and everyone excluding Haji felt a shiver prickle the hairs on the back of their necks when Kai's black eyes burned into Yusuke's, who was looking rather ill. "If you know what's good for you, you'll never talk to me, my friends, or anyone at all like that ever again. Frankly, you sicken me."

There was silence for a few seconds, seconds that all spent frozen in shocked stillness.

Haji, who had watched the whole thing, saw the exact moment that Yusuke realised just what had been said. He saw the scowl begin to form, saw the angry flush creep up his neck, saw the way he shifted his weight. He watched the way Yusuke's muscles jumped and flexed as he drew back, watched as his feet unconsciously moved into position to accommodate the shift in balance. Haji watched as his fingers curled into a fist, his arm pulling back…

Haji scowled slightly, the movement barely creasing the pale skin of his forehead. He could not allow this. Though his intentions were honourable Kai was old and, though no one ever said it, feeble. His human bones had taken a beating in his youth, and he was paying the price for it now. Taking a hit at such close range would injure him severely… In that moment, Haji made a choice of his own.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

A single jerk and the handcuffs shattered, the useless rings of metal clattering to the ground. The soft clink was deafening in the silence that had fallen.

Moving quickly, Haji pushed Kai out of the way of Yusuke's fist before anyone else even realised what was happening, and easily blocked the blow with his arm. There were shouts and the sounds of pistols being loaded, and yells for Haji to put his hands up or they would open fire. Someone had pulled Kai back, but that was okay. It occurred to Haji almost dreamily that he would probably have to kill someone, most likely Yusuke, and it was a choice that he would have to make himself… Gods, how did Saya live with this every day?

Looking almost apologetic Haji drew back his twisted hand, preparing to plunge it into the horrified Yusuke's chest. The nails were still sharp and though the fingers themselves were useless, it wouldn't take much to kill this boy. Kai was right, Yusuke was still green, he hadn't developed the muscle that he should have this high up in rank. The boy didn't even have calluses; his hands were soft and untried. Not that it would have made much difference in the end… His arm, poised like a spear, shot forward.

* * *

A.N. Oh, I am _so _evil! Someone pass me a cat that I can stroke while laughing maniacally. Mwahahahaha!!

Not much else to say now, but please remember to vote how you want the story to go from the options given it the AN at the start of the chapter when you review. And now the quotes!

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

-Unknown

And, because I realised belatedly that I was a wicked girl and forgot the quote last chapter...

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick-boxing.

-Unknown


	8. Chapter 8

A.N. Hello again... My, it has been a while, hasn't it? I have a million and three excuses as to why this chapter is late, but though they're all legitimate they're incredibly boring... I will say, though, that if you want beat my gluttonous human-hating bastard of a computer into landfill, there's a park down the road with big, pointy sticks. I'll send you a map.

...Seriously, though. I have been home for a little while, I think there are a few people who haven't realised- so if you haven't read chapter 7 then I suggest you go back and read that before you read this. In chapter seven the landslide victory has gone to option two (read the chapter if you don't know what I'm talking about), so you can expect a lot more plot and character development. I'm very glad everyone liked option two, actually, since I was getting rather tired of option one. I need angst, damnit, all this sugary sweetness has made my dentist very happy and me very poor... So a quick thankyou to everyone who's read and/or reviewed and/or favourited and/or alerted this (you'll be delighted to hear that my ego is once again blocking out the sun), and on with chapter eight!!

* * *

Blood spattered.

It trickled and pooled onto the gravel below, splashing almost silently as it dribbled into the gutters.

Yusuke gurgled, his face chalk white, his uniform wet and heavy with blood…

_Blood that wasn't his own._

Haji stood still, for once unsure of what exactly to do. Bullets had pierced his shoulder and hip, and while such a wound would have been fatal for a human he could already feel the flesh knitting closed.

… Should he keel over and pretend to die?

Broken from his terror-induced stupor Yusuke yelped and flung out his arm, batting Haji enough to the side that he could escape and stumble over to safety. Though unharmed, the young officer was trembling something terrible, and looked like he was going to be sick.

Haji was at a loss of what to do, and a quick glance at Kai revealed that the man was just as horrified at the turn of the situation. Chiropteran and Chevalier could not become common knowledge, and the secret was out if Haji just kept… _standing _there, the blood that dripped to the ground already turning sluggish as his body healed. What could they do?

The decision, as it turned out, was taken out of their hands.

There was a streak of black, a cry of alarm and the brief rattle of guns being fired; and then Haji's world turned upside down, literally.

His chest constricted and his breath hitched imperceptibly when he recognised the warning growls of the creature before him, and his nose was doused in the comforting but at the moment wholly unwelcome scent of apples. Familiar strands of black hair gusted in the slight breeze to tickle his face, sending little puffs of her sweet scent with each pass they made. He felt rather ill.

Saya, on the other hand, felt positively _livid. _The one she had chosen was hurt! Though no more blood escaped the wounds, and in the long run they were insignificant, he would need rest… and the cause of his hurt was still standing there, unpunished! She snarled, her need for revenge battling with her desire to help the one she had chosen. Her eyes flashed and glittered like twin rubies as the orbs flashed indecisively from the officers to Haji, and heat began to boil deep in her marrow.

Fortunately for all concerned, help won the internal mêlée.

Shooting everyone suspicious glares Saya eyed the guns that had been trained on her, some distant memory warning her that though no blood pulsed through the strange grey-metal beasts, they would bite her hard if she didn't exercise some caution. Moving with slow carefulness born of the overwhelming urge to see Haji safe, Saya edged toward her Chevalier and chosen mate.

Fortunately for her, none of the officers knew quite how to retaliate to her unexpected interruption, so she made it safely. It was only when she made to carry her Chevalier away that they sprung into action.

"Hey!" they shouted, and they surrounded her from all sides, their weapons trained on her with practised effortlessness. "Freeze, girl!"

"What's wrong with her?" one whispered. Though he was instantly shushed, it was a question they were all wondering. The way she crouched low on her haunches, the way her incisors peeked from between her lips, and the way her unnaturally red eyes glittered all made them aware that perhaps she wasn't as she seemed. "Should we take her in?"

Saya eyed them warily, her patience thinning as her eyes flickered from the quietly conversing officers to Haji, who was still lying motionless on the ground in a shallow pool of his own blood. Blue eyes that were carefully blank locked with hers, and her mind buzzed. Her priority was to see to his safety, and if those men were going to get in her way she'd make sure that they never had the opportunity to interfere twice. She had to get Haji out of there as soon as possible, and the only thought her heated mind could conjure was that these men were keeping her from her goal. And that was unacceptable. Out of the blue she begun to tremble wildly, but before anyone could so much as ask if she was all right she forced the spasms away. The instinct to survive was far stronger than the instinct to procreate, and _Haji must not die_.

"Saya!" a voice yelled. She turned slightly, startled, when a strange man elbowed his way over to her. He was pale, his heart thudded deafeningly, and fear rolled off of him in waves. "Don't move, Saya, please for the love of God, don't move a muscle!"

He smelt like pack. He _felt _like pack. His warm brown eyes, even alight with panic as they were, calmed her. He was a pack brother. He would help. He loved Haji as well.

Saya turned to Kai, her crimson eyes glowing fiercely even without the usual malice that accompanied the blaze. Her beast was still very much in control, and though Kai knew in her rational state she would never so much as intentionally scratch him, he couldn't help the catch in his breath or the panicked widening of his eyes when Saya turned her bloody orbs to his. He loved his sister dearly, but he was afraid, so afraid; so very afraid for her. His legs trembled, his muscles clenching and screaming with the effort it took to stand still as the adrenalin pumped through his blood. His skin was slick with a thin sheen of cold sweat. Even facing down Chiropteran in the forms of massive, salivating beasts had never scared him so badly. But this creature was his _sister…_

"Saya," he pleaded, his voice broken and raspy. He cleared his throat nervously, his dilated pupils fixed on his sisters' crimson irises as he struggled to organise his tangled thoughts. "Don't move, Saya. Please. You are not in the right frame of mind, you need to come back to me, kiddo, before you do something else that you'll regret forever…" Though he tried to sound calm and persuasive, the whining, pleading edge to his requests disgusted him. Gods, why couldn't he be strong for the people he loved! His hands were trembling, for Christ sake, and all she was doing was standing there! But he was so afraid of seeing the dead hopelessness in her maroon eyes, he never wanted to see her mistakes and regrets cause her to fade away like she had once… Worse, if she actually lost control he might have to kill her… The terror he felt for her dwarfed the numbing terror he felt for himself.

Haji rose fluidly to his feet, his natural grace allowing him to get up without alerting any of the watching policemen. Fortunately for him they were transfixed by what was playing out before them, and didn't seem entirely sure as to what was going on, let alone how to treat the situation. Acting more clever than he had previously believed possible for a bunch of humans they had decided to simply watch the goings on without interfering, even if only until they actually got a clue as to what the hell was happening.

The Chevalier stepped forward, the shifting of his boots as he moved through the shallow pool of his own blood almost completely inaudible. No one had yet noticed him, and he decided to use this to his advantage. His thoughts whirred. He had to diffuse the tense situation as soon as possible, and the only way that could happen was if Saya calmed down, and the only way for Saya to calm down was for her beast's wishes to be appeased. Her beast obviously wished for his safety, and if he could confirm that he was indeed unharmed she should be okay. But… Haji's eyes narrowed. He had to get Kai away. While it looked as though Saya bore him no ill will he wasn't about to put all his confidence in appearances. As much as he loved Saya and trusted her inexplicably, it was the creature standing before him that he had yet to have faith in. Decided, the Chevalier darted forward, his hand stretched out in preparation to grab onto Kai's clothes and drag him to safety so that he could deal with Saya himself.

All she knew was that one moment she was looking at her pack brother, and then there was _something _darting toward him, hand outstretched as though to slice through his skin, a blur of movement that filled her with instant panic. Acting instinctively Saya shot ahead to intercept the blur, her own hands poised with her deadly claws spread as she flew forward with terrible speed.

And then red eyes locked with grey-blue, no more than two inches away from the other.

Another terrible silence fell, broken only by the steady dripping of blood.

Saya's face was pale, a stark contrast to the blood that had splattered up her arm, a couple of flecks marring the otherwise pale skin of her cheeks.

Haji slid bonelessly to the ground, Saya's hand slipping with a horrible squelch from where it was buried deep in his gut. Blood bubbled from between his lips and dribbled down his chin, and everyone watched in horrified fascination as the dark stain slowly spread across the expanse of his clothing. Saya sobbed, her now maroon eyes glittering with tears which she struggled to wipe away with her hands, crying harder when she only succeeded in streaking her face with red. Her slender and suddenly tiny frame was wracked with traumatised shivers, and her lips moved wordlessly.

"Haji…" she whispered. "I'm… I didn't mean…" Her voice catching, the broken woman put her head in her bloodied hands and wept. Her lips moved as she emitted inaudible sighs and trembling gasps, but it was only when Kai looked closer that his blood froze and he began trembling himself. _Diva, _her lips formed. _Sister… _She fell to her knees, buried her face in her hands and sobbed quietly.

Someone yelled for an ambulance to be called, and then as though they were magical words the spell around the officers was broken, and they jostled about in a flurry of noisy activity. Haji remained prone on the ground with Saya weeping silently over his body, while the ashen faced Kai stood frozen off to the side. The unresponsive man was led away by steady hands, and he couldn't even bring himself to speak when they bundled Saya into the backseat of one of the police cars while Haji was taken away in the just-arrived ambulance. Though the world was alive with sound and sensation, there was a curious fog in his mind that didn't let any noise through. It was as though he were dreaming, and he prayed with as much fervour as he could muster that he would wake up any moment to a world that wasn't slowly bleeding into hues of black and grey. Gods, why wasn't he waking up?!

Someone made Kai a cup of black tea. He only liked his tea with lots of milk. He said nothing and downed the burning liquid in one long draught, not at all surprised when the heat failed to dispel the icy tendrils that were squeezing his heart.

* * *

Saya stared out of the car window at the passing scenery through dull maroon eyes, while inside her head voices screamed. The full impact of what had happened had only just now hit her, and it was taking a ridiculous amount of will to bite back the spasms of nausea that kept sending shots of bile up her throat. Haji… Those boys… she had killed them; killed them in cold blood. And they hadn't been the first, either…

_Blood. Blood. So much blood. _

_There was blood everywhere._

_A face so like hers, a face with eyes so different yet the same as her own made her breath catch as it loomed out of the darkness. It smiled at her, the electric blue eyes kind and brimming with childish glee. _

… _Aika? _

_No, not Aika. Aika had shorter hair. Aika didn't wear a strange, bat-like costume. Aika didn't somehow appear to be a girl and a young boy at the same time, the twin images overlaying one another and morphing into one twisted body. Aika didn't have blood pouring out between her lips and staining her teeth and tongue, the crimson flow streaming into the dusty darkness below her…_

Saya choked back a traumatised sob, biting hard on her knuckles. She was so caught up in her memories she didn't even notice when her teeth broke the skin and her mouth was flooded with the salty copper of blood.

_Diva…_

_Diva had smiled and shattered, turning into stone and crumbling into dust with barely a whisper. Her sister… her own blood sister… oh, gods…_

What the hell was she?!

_What was she, what had she done, what horrible things had happened in her past? Who had she killed? _Why _had she killed? What possible reason could she have to hurt such a sweet looking girl as her own sister? Diva had just stood there and grinned, a teen with the eyes of a child. An abused child, her eyes were aglow with laughter but were oh, so hollow…_

_And Saya had killed her. Killed her with a sword which, she noticed with detached fascination and horror, had slid all the way through phantom-Diva's body so that the blood soaked tip was sticking out her back, the hilt pressed against the shredded flesh of her belly._

Warm, solid hands pulled her from the car, and she realised with a start that the scenery out the window had stilled. She didn't protest when she was walked into the station, too tormented by her sudden memories to care. _Who else's blood had lain crusted underneath her fingernails_?She bowed her head and shuddered.

* * *

Sergeant Hojo studied the girl who sat in the room behind the two-way mirror. She'd curled in on herself in the overly large armchair, her dejected maroon eyes only just visible over the tops of her knees. Her dark hair formed a thick curtain of black about her body, the unusually long strands pooling onto the tiled floor of the room. She was very beautiful. It didn't seem possible that the innocent young woman before him was a vicious killer, but the years on the force had taught him to always expect the unexpected, and no matter how clichéd the saying itself was he had to admit that it had saved his hide on more than one occasion.

Giving a soft groan Hojo struggled to his feet, making his way over to the door. Opening it he eyed the girl's miserable features with a not-unkind grin, made himself comfortable in the seat opposite her and begun to shuffle the papers there.

"Do you know why you're here, miss?" he questioned carefully after a moment of silence. It was obvious that the poor thing was pretty depressed at the moment, and the last thing he wanted was for her to close off from him. He would have to tread carefully around this one. "Do you have any idea, any at all?"

She sat still and silent, her maroon eyes locked stubbornly on his chin. He ducked his head in an attempt at catching her gaze, but all she did was allow her eyelids to conceal her vision entirely, her long black lashes sweeping over high, delicately curved cheekbones. She really was very pretty.

"I'm an officer, miss," said Hojo slowly. "Have been for a few years now, and in that time I've learnt a few things about people." It was true. Though he was young he had been a cop for a while now, and had met so many different personalities. He understood people pretty well, and with this understanding came the burdensome knowledge that people were not _good_. If he was right about this kid, she was a victim, for sure; but nonetheless a guilty party in the horrible murder of those kids. Half the force had either thrown up or passed out when they arrived at the crime scene, and though he was one of the few to stay conscious it had been a close call. Once living, breathing people had been mutilated to the point that they were barely human anymore… He swallowed at the memory, his stomach curdling in protest as against his will his mind threw images at him of tattered flesh and twisted bone and gaping, eyeless sockets, the gruesome images branded onto the backs of his eyelids and haunting him... He shivered, his skin crawling.

Now he only had to find out how deep this young girl's involvement in such a heinous crime was. Pretty or not, if she had done _that _to them kids or played some part in what happened, he wouldn't rest until she was locked away forever.

"I know that no one can possibly live a completely guiltless life," he started, watching her reactions carefully. "Every day, technically you have broken the rules if you just do something as innocent as going about your every day routine. Maybe you could get away with not committing a crime by lying very still in some dark corner all day, but only just. And even then, you're probably guilty of loitering." He smiled encouragingly at her, but the chuckle he had hoped for was not forthcoming. He sighed, turning serious once again.

"I'll be honest with you. See, there are no good people or bad people out there, girl," he said solemnly, his eyes grave as they fixed on her delicate form. "Just people behaving like people. Just because you haven't dealt drugs, haven't beat someone bloody, haven't committed murder…" Here, the girl gave a choked sob, and Hojo eyed her carefully. He would have to approach this from a different angle, it seemed.

"Girl," he started, then shook his head. "What's your name?"

She was quiet for a long moment, just staring at her knees. He almost didn't notice the movement of her lips when she whispered, "Saya."

He leant in closer. "What was that? I missed it."

"Saya. My name's Saya."

"Saya, eh? A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Her eyes at last locked onto his, and he gave her a small smile. "That's better. My name's Hojo. Sergeant Suzuki Hojo."

She nodded slowly, her hair tumbling across her face and framing the pale slices of skin that the long locks didn't conceal. "Hojo," she parroted tonelessly.

"That's right. Now, Saya, I want to have a talk to you. I want to talk to you about one night in particular. Can you think of what night I might want to talk to you about?"

Saya trembled softly, ducking her head so that her face was pressed against her knees. She nodded, but the motion was barely distinguishable from the shudders that wracked her body as she wept quietly. He would have missed the motion altogether if he hadn't been looking for it.

"Can you talk to me, Saya?" said Hojo gently, but firmly. "I need you to talk to me about that night. What happened to those boys?"

She met his eyes once again, and he was taken aback by the raw pain and despair that coloured the depths of her eyes crimson. Her mouth twisted into a noiseless sob, her lips quivering as her mind tormented her with memories that were obviously traumatic. She whimpered painfully, but still parted her lips to speak…

* * *

"How could this happen!" David roared. He paced the room furiously, running his hands through his thin white hair as he muttered to himself. This was bad, very bad. Kai had come running home not long before, shouting that Saya had been taken by the police and Haji was in a hospital, a _human _hospital, where they were about to run some tests and attempt to replace the blood he would have lost when he received the gun-shot wounds, if he were human. But, he wasn't…

"How could this have happened?!" David growled. He was _pissed off_.

"I'm making some calls, Pa," said Kunio, covering the mouthpiece of the telephone receiver he was talking into. "I've managed to get Haji out of the hospital in the guise of transferring him to another better equipped establishment, but I haven't been able to locate Saya yet."

"Keep looking, dear," Julia sighed. "Something will come up soon."

Kunio nodded solemnly, and resumed his talk with whoever was on the other line.

The ashen faced Kai was slumped bonelessly in an armchair, his eyes dull as they stared out at nothing. He was despairing silently to himself, uncaring of the frantic state of his friends. He was miserable, and hadn't moved from this spot since he'd first come in.

He hardly ever did anything right when it came to Saya.

Before, he had been too young, too naïve, too headstrong to be anything other than a nuisance, but he also hoped he had been a constant, solid presence for Saya to rely on and find comfort in. Now, he was too old, too jaded, too exhausted to fight. He was just a burdensome pain again…

He couldn't remember how many nights he had lain awake, missing his sister fiercely, fantasising about her reappearance into his life and dreaming of how her mere presence would chase away the shadows that haunted him, and make everything _right _again. No one ever said it, but it was the day they all fought for. It was what kept them struggling against the odds, kept them going even when their hands were slick with blood, sweat and pain. And now she was here… And everything had gone wrong.

The door creaked, and Kai looked up long enough to give a wan smile to the silhouette in the doorway. "You look no worse for wear," he remarked, and it was true. Haji only nodded curtly, stepping into the room gracefully as though he hadn't been riddled with bullets or had a hand amongst his intestines a scant few hours ago.

"Saya is still missing," he said quietly, and Kai flinched at the lack of emotion in the frigid words.

"Yeah, but Kunio reckons he's getting close," Kai said, indicating with his head to where the young man stood talking agitatedly into the telephone. He flashed the pair a weak smile when he happened to catch his name, but was soon pulled back into his frustratingly unproductive conversation with the person on the other line. Kai flinched again when the irritated voice from the receiver damn near echoed through the room. "But so far it's all been dead ends," he added lamely.

Haji nodded slowly, and disappeared back out the door without another word. He was laying low for the moment. The police didn't know where he lived and he didn't have any revealing documents like a credit card or even a real address that might identify him, so as long as he remained alert and didn't let his thoughts wander as they had last time, he should be safe if they ever actually decided to try find this 'Joyfully Happy Hospital' he had supposedly been transferred to (Kunio was a hopeless liar).

Kai, though, was a different matter. He would be brought in for questioning soon, but they already had the perfect lie concocted to explain what had happened, and he would try to get some information from the officers concerning Saya's whereabouts. If everything went according to plan, things would go back to normal in as little as a few days.

Kai shook his head and smirked sadly, leaning back against the soft leather of his chair with a small sigh as Haji's silhouette disappeared into the blinding light of outside. _Be okay, sis_, he prayed, wishing fervently that she'd just come home to stay.

* * *

A.N. Phew, well, there you go. I hope that makes up for the ridiculously long wait. Anyway, if you haven't noticed life is getting in the way of my writing again (stupid life -shakes fist-) and updates will probably be a little sporadic for the next couple of chapters. Really, though, if there was any real choice between agonising over my essay on situational ethical principles and writing my beloved fanfiction, I'd go fanfiction, _believe _me.

Anyway, another gi-normous THANKYOU to everyone who reviewed and has stuck with me this far in despite my less than frequent updates... You can expect your virtual cookies in the mail. Enjoy the chocolaty goodness!

Quote of the day:

'If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?'

Unknown


	9. Chapter 9

A.N. Hellllo!! Me again. You know, I learnt two really cool things since I last updated. One, 'underdog', actually refers to a position in the sawing industry, and two, that Diva's daughters DO actually have names (Thanks to the reviewer who told me so :D) Their names are Kanade and Hibiki. Dunno that I like them all that much... Hibiki sounds too much like something you eat with a cup of tea, and... I can't think of any witty complaint for Kanade unless I try work 'Canada' in there somehow, but you get the general idea.

Also, since I last updated I've done a little editing and fixer-upper-ing of the past chapters, tightening and rewriting little errors and excessive OOC. There's nothing that new though, so don't worry, there's nothing you have to reread... Unless, like a couple of reviewers were, you were curious as to why exactly, if they were thirty something years old, the twins were in school. Eh heh... -sweatdrop- Hadn't occured to me. I've explained that all away though. Turns out they didn't get a tertiary education until later in life because the majority of their childhood was spent eradicating the reamining Chiropteran, in a nut-shell.

Anyway... this chapter gave me a little grief, so I'm sorry if it seems forced in places. I go into a little detail about police policies and pathological practises, but honestly it's almost entirely a bluff since all I know about that sort of thing is what I've gathered from the occasional cop-show and some half-assed research on Google. If I've made any glaring errors, lets everyone assume that procedures have changed somewhat in thirty years, because I don't really want to have to go back and change things around. On with the chapter!

* * *

As they had suspected, it didn't take long for the police to come and bring Kai into questioning. He didn't stay long – just long enough to tell them the previously concocted lies that were delicately worded so as to give the impression that Kai and the two suspects were only very loose and recent acquaintances, only just on first name basis and not by any stretch of the imagination _friends _– but didn't manage to get much information about Saya. He did find out that she was located in the station in one of the cells, but was not allowed to go see her, the one drawback to claiming to have no relationship with her. Kai and the others had figured though that it was better to be safe than sorry, and if they were going to be planning something drastic they didn't need any suspicious cops peering over the garden fence and getting an eyeful of a seventy-something-year-old man squinting short-sightedly at a target a few tens-of-metres away, throwing-knife in hand; or better yet, a wanted human boy becoming very quickly a wanted most-likely-_not_-human-boy, on account of the huge bat wings he was sporting and all. No, they had many secrets that had to be kept secrets for as long as possible. Forever, actually, for preference…

Kai shook his head and returned his thoughts to where they were meant to be. Right. Back at the station… He was asked a few questions about her, Saya, that is, but he was sure to answer evasively so he didn't give too much away. In the end, they were forced to let him go. He had walked out of there with a lot on his mind.

"What did you find out?" asked Kunio the moment Kai walked in the door to Omoro, and he and his father listened attentively as Kai told them the little he knew. "She was in there," Kai finished, settling down into one of the many armchairs with a groan and muttered expletive. "But I can't see how we're going to get her out. She's a suspect in the murders of those boys, and we can't easily just work around that since she fits witness description, and I wouldn't be surprised if she's said something or even has an attack. She was in a pretty bad way when I last saw her." Kai winced inwardly when he recalled the torment in her eyes as she breathed her sister's name. "She seems to be beginning to remember some things," he said gravely, his eyes almost black with worry as he sunk back into his chair. "She knows Diva is her sister, but I don't think she understands why Diva had to die. She seemed pretty out of it…"

"She's dangerous in the unstable state of mind she's in," said David, biting his thumbnail as he thought. "But even though I was one of the force before that bastard shot me I doubt I would even be able to speak with her, seeing as she is such an important suspect in such an important case."

"This is very bad," Kai murmured to himself. "We'll have to literally bust her out if they don't make some decisions down at the station soon. She must be in agony…"

"Don't think of that," David demanded sharply, his eyes narrowing as he struggled to think. "Just concentrate on thinking of a plan to get her out. I'll make a few requests to some of my old work-mates, but I doubt anything will come of them. Short of physically kidnapping her, what are our options?"

"We could get Joel to put in a good word," Kunio suggested doubtfully. "Even after all this time the Goldschmidt name still holds _some_ weight."

"Give him a call a little later," David agreed. "If she really is found to be guilty there'll be little he can do except for perhaps decrease her sentence, but his word could mean a lot when it comes to convincing a jury to let her go free-"

"You've found Saya now?" interrupted a soft voice, and turning abruptly the men were startled to see Aiko standing in the doorway, her pale face drawn and sad. When she noticed that all eyes were on her her thin lips twisted into the barest of smiles, but her eyes remained dull with misery.

"Where's Aika?" Kai asked, shifting so he could peer over Aiko's shoulder in case her sister was lurking somewhere outside. "Aren't you two joined at the hip or something?" He sniggered slightly at the mental image, but stopped abruptly when Aiko turned her haunted maroon eyes to meet his.

"She went off somewhere," said the Chiropteran girl quietly, dropping her gaze. "Is Saya alright?"

"Of course she is," Kai said gently, sorry now for laughing. Looking closer at Aiko's features, he felt his heart twist when he noticed that her nose was red and she was shaking a little, her hazy maroon eyes were blurred with water and her cheeks glistened in the weak light. Kai held his arms out in a wordless invitation, clutching his surrogate daughter close when she threw herself on top of him with a choked sob. She folded herself around him, sinking into his warmth as she wept pitifully.

"She was our friend," Aiko whimpered, gripping her father close as he shushed her, rocking her soothingly as though she were an infant. David and Kunio looked on sympathetically as the young woman choked on her words, trembling and gasping in her grief as Kai struggled to calm her. "She was one of us, she was our sister…" She cried brokenly into her surrogate father's chest, scorching his skin with salt water and gripping him to her as though he, too, would disappear if she let go. "Please, you have to…" she broke off and buried her face in her father's shoulder.

"What's all this 'was' business, Aiko," Kai murmured, smiling encouragingly at his little girl when she at last pulled back with a wet sniffle. "She'll be back before you know it. She's not dead or anything, she just… won't be here for a little while. She isn't in any danger; it's not like Diva's around anymore."

"…You're right," said Aiko, reluctantly pulling away. She choked out a weak giggle, wiping at the wet patch on Kai's chest. "Sorry. But Aika and I… We've never had a real friend before Saya. We miss her…"

"Think nothing of it," said Kai softly, swiping away her tears with his thumb and smiling at her when she sniffed. "You'll see, she'll be back before you know it. Promise."

"Um…" The pair turned to Kunio, who was looking a little apologetic for having interrupted the family moment. "So… Where exactly is Aika, anyway?"

"She wanted to get away for a little, but she's not gone far. She doesn't like other people to see her when she's really upset, and though she'd never admit it I know that she loves Saya a lot."

"So, what's our plan of action?" David asked gruffly, eager to get back on topic_. _

"There's little else we can do other than bust her out," sighed Kunio. "It would be best to wait until we know for sure there's no other option before we resort to such drastic measures, but all the same people should begin making some plans and looking at the layout of the prison."

"We'll just have to wait and see for the time being," said Kai solemnly, hugging his daughter close as she nodded reluctantly into his chest. "I'll check out some stuff and make up a plan with the others to get into the prison, but until then we'll just have to keep watch, hold tight and cross our fingers..."

* * *

Sergeant Hojo stepped through the door marked PATHOLOGY, breathing steadily through his mouth so that the sudden wave of chemicals in the air wouldn't give him the headache they always did. After receiving a cursory nod from a man typing busily at a desk in the outer office, Hojo opened the double doors to the side of the long desk, walking briskly down a corridor toward another set of doors that led to the main pathology lab.

Pushing the glass door open, he couldn't help but squint in face of the harsh light that bounced off the white-tiled walls and floor to dazzle him. He made a quick sweep of the eight steel workbenches inside the lab, smiling at the masked woman who was bent over the only occupied one. "Hey Hisae," he called, his voice echoing from the banks of fluorescents set in the high ceiling down to the immaculately white tiled floor. "Found anything?"

"Nothing we didn't already know," the small Japanese woman sighed, yanking off her mask and wiping stray flecks of blood from her green smock and gloves onto a convenient rag. "You can come and look, if you want."

The head of the pathology department led Hojo over to a young man's body that lay on the steel slab, his nakedness revealing bruises and lacerations that hadn't been evident before. The wall beside the table had gruesome photos pinned up revealing the state the flesh had been in before she had made the long, Y-shaped cut from sternum to pelvis so that the flesh could be peeled back and the boy's insides studied.

Hisae bustled about the dead body, alternatively checking some scales upon which rested a single huge lump of reddish tissue Hojo soon realised was a lung and a jug containing what must be stomach fluid. She sniffed the jug, wrinkling her nose. "I'll have to do the proper tests to confirm, but the smell says the kid was pretty drunk when he died," the pathologist claimed. She continued to dart from place to place, but since she was so short it was a simple thing for Hojo to study what she was doing over the top of her cropped black hair.

"You wanted to show me something?" Hojo pressed. He just wanted to get out of there, and someone as observant as Hisae was should know by now that he hated the pathology section of the building. The overwhelming stench of chemicals combined with the odours of the abdominal cavity of an open corpse was almost intolerable.

"Hm? Oh, yes, sorry. All the corpses," she gestured at the freezers built into one of the walls that must contain the other nineteen bodies, "have the same MO. All of them were hacked to bits with an as-of-yet unidentified weapon… How are you doing for suspects, by the way?"

"We have a girl who we think was involved. She's being detained in cell 15A."

"Really, a girl? Does she seem very strong?"

Hojo thought back to Saya. "No, not particularly. Just your average high-school girl."

"She probably wasn't the killer then. The killer, whoever he or she was, was exceptionally powerful. See here," Hisae ran one gloved finger along the length of a vicious looking cut on the corpse's thigh, "these wounds are deep. Judging by the width and quality of the cuts I'd say the killer used some kind of thick knife, but for the knife to be as chunky as it must have been the wielder would have needed incredible strength just to make the slices as long as they are."

"No, that doesn't sound like our girl."

"Don't rule her out entirely, Suzuki," Hisae reminded him. "Just because she isn't the murderer doesn't mean she wasn't somehow involved."

"I know, I know. What's with the lungs, by the way?"

"Oh, aside from the thigh wound the cuts that tore through his flesh to the lung are easiest to identify. I sent the other lung over to Yoko's department, he's comparing the cuts in it to some weapons we have on file. They're an unusual thickness, though, so unless somehow the knife was homemade it probably wasn't a knife at all, but I honestly don't know what else it could be."

"It couldn't be glass or anything like that?"

"There aren't any fibres or shards in the wounds, and since the cuts taper the deeper they go I'd say no to glass. Still, we aren't ruling it out. Honestly I'm stumped."

"So we pretty much have nothing." Hojo slumped against the wall and ran an agitated hand through his hair. Hisae smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, hon."

"What about the other bodies?"

Hisae snorted. "I still haven't fully assembled them. I was always hopeless at jigsaws."

Hojo shuddered at the implication of her words. Yes, that was right. There were very few whole body parts left at the crime scene…

Hisae just shook her head sadly, turning her back to Hojo so that she could continue her work on the body. "Anyway, there's nothing much else to say until I get Yoko's report back."

Hojo just nodded silently, recognising the dismissal for what it was. His hand had just grasped the door handle when Hisae called him back.

"Oh, and Hojo?" He turned and met Hisae's serious gaze. "When you do catch the bastard, be careful," said the pathologist solemnly. "These wounds… They're frenzied, uncontrolled. Whoever did this wanted these kids dead, deader than dead in some of the more vicious cases. Be careful, hon."

"I will be," Hojo promised with a grave nod, giving a tight smile goodbye to the concerned woman before disappearing out the door. "I'm going to visit our suspect Saya now," he called over his shoulder before the door could swing shut. "I have to grab her details still. Call me if you find anything else!"

"Will do!" Hisae yelled back, waiting until her work-mate had disappeared entirely before turning back to the corpse. "What monster did this to you?" she murmured sadly to the torn up boy, before sighing and getting out a large pair of pincers. Well, the case wasn't going to be solved by just standing around…

* * *

The cell was eight by fifteen with a solid steel door supported by heavy iron bands. There was a bed, the steel frame of a small desk and chair, a toilet in the corner that didn't flush.

Men in small rooms, in isolation. They put you in a room and lock the door. So simple it's a form of genius.

Saya lay on the cramped bed, tossing and turning as best she could without falling off the edges. It wasn't the most… comfortable of beds. Nor the most hygienic. And not much could be said about its prettiness, unless when you said it you endeavoured to convey just how non-pretty it really was. In a word, it was _devastatingly_ unlovely.

When she had first entered the room two days ago, if she were in her usual mind frame perhaps the first thing she would have done was tilt her head a little and stare at the place she was to sleep with a kind of appalled fascination as the steel door behind her closed with a discouragingly solid-sounding bang. She would then have gazed at the bed for a while with penetrating absorption, as though if she looked at it hard enough perhaps everyone would jump out of the corners yelling 'April Fools!' and, chuckling like mad at her naïve gullibility, lead her to her queen-sized canopy bed with mountains of silk cushions, laughing all the while at the ridiculous notion that she would ever be made to sleep on that lump of smelly rags. Since she was well aware that a surreptitious glance into the few shadows of the room would not be at all encouraging, she decided to simply forgo that particular reaction and instead sat numbly on what shall be charitably referred to as a bed until the English language vomits up a more appropriate term.

She was being detained at the moment, and was sleeping in a jail cell somewhere in the station until further tests could be done to either prove or disprove her innocence in regards to the murder of those boys. She had been read her rights already, and knew that she could only be held here for a maximum of a week unless some incriminating evidence was found, in which case she would be formally arrested. So for a full seven days she would be here in her solitary cell, all on her own, with nothing but the ache in her heart and fire in her blood for company. Joy.

She shivered, the heat that boiled in her bones and curdled in her stomach belying the chills that crawled along her flesh. It had been a few days since she had had her last meal of blood, and that paired with her tiredness only made her more susceptible to the pain of her heat. Despite her exhaustion, though, she hadn't had a full night sleep since arriving, and the black rings around her eyes made her sunken expression of hopeless agony all the more tragic. She sighed again, rolling onto her side and breathing steadily through her mouth.

She had said nothing when that nice man, Hojo, had questioned her. She had been about to tell him everything that had happened… she really had… but a painful spasm had locked her jaw and made her eyes roll back, her limbs twitching as she convulsed. She had fallen to the ground, her screams muffled from behind her clenched teeth as fire licked her veins and her skeleton tried to escape her body through her skin. It had been the most painful attack yet.

Obviously, someone or some_thing _hadn't been too happy about her spilling her secrets to strangers.

Hojo had not tried to question her any more after her 'episode', and she had been sent straight here. Two days had passed since then, and very little else had happened. The suspense was beginning to gnaw at her a little now… and with good reason. She remembered all too well from her talks with the twins that she should on no account reveal her identity as a Chiropteran to anyone outside the family and trusted friend circle, otherwise it could quite probably mean her death. And these police people wanted her blood to run some tests since she couldn't give a name to the 'disease' that caused her to convulse like she had, and they also needed her DNA as evidence. She would refuse the tests for as long as possible, but had been warned that the police were sending off for a court order so that her opinion on the procedures wouldn't matter. The murders, after all, were a very serious case, and if she was involved they wanted to know as soon as possible so they could either put her away or divert their attention to other likely suspects.

Saya shifted, grimacing when the motion pulled at her aching muscles. She could only hope that the others got her away soon, or she didn't know what would happen…

The door jolted, and Saya scrambled to a sitting position as the evil-looking block of steel opened with a long, tortured screech. The newly arrived Hojo shot her a sheepish look before entering the room, wincing when the door shrieked again as he pulled it closed. Saya's smile was tired but genuine. She liked Hojo. He seemed to be in charge of the case, since she hadn't come into any real contact with anyone else on the force, but she didn't really mind. He was very kind to her, if a bit of a busy-body at times, but she supposed he was only doing his job.

"Hey, Saya," the young man greeted pleasantly. "How have you been hanging?"

Her already tiny smile faded into stoic bitterness. In all honesty, she hadn't been 'hanging' all that well. The past few days had been her worse yet in terms of attacks (milder than the one she had when she first arrived at the station, thank God). Her sleepless night were plagued with questions and tormented with gory but splintered fragments of memory, making her wonder with consuming fervour who she was, how she had lived, what sort of life-style could possibly drive her to kill her own sister, and who else had fallen to her rage? The questions she agonised so obsessively over were robbing her of sleep, and she ached to go home.

"I've been fine," she said stiffly, banishing her thoughts and memories as best she could. "As fine as could be expected, anyway."

"Fair enough," said Hojo smoothly, though they both knew that she was lying through her teeth. "Someone called Kai came today. He was the one on the scene when you were taken in, you remember?"

"I remember," said Saya slowly, her mind whirring as it processed the subtleties of the seemingly innocuous question. She couldn't understand why the others would deny any connection with her and felt a little hurt that they had, but she had to assume that they had their reasons. "He seemed like a nice enough guy, I suppose. I can't say I knew him that well though."

"He was passably decent," Hojo agreed with a small smile. "A little 'aggro' at times, but that's to be expected after going through the ordeal he has… Now, Saya, I did come here for a reason. I've come to tell you that we've not been able to find any evidence at all – there's no fingerprints or anything been found since there was no weapon at the scene and prints are next to impossible to lift directly from a corpse's skin, don't let the cop shows fool you. I'm afraid that I'm going to need some of your personal details, so that we can contact your family and properly debrief them and make them aware of the extent of the situation. Can you give us a telephone number, or an address?"

Saya went blank. What to do, what to do? Even if she wanted to give them the restaurant's location she still had a heap of trouble remembering its name on top of everything else she was learning every day, and had never been told the phone number. "Um," she said, thinking quickly, "I don't have any immediate family." That seemed a fairly safe way to go. After all, it seemed as though Kai was lying about the nature of her relationship with him and the others, so Hojo shouldn't be able to disprove what she said.

"Oh? Where do you live then?"

"Around," she said vaguely. "My parents died a while ago now."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. May I ask how?"

Saya went blank again. "Um," she hazarded, sounding the syllable slowly as her brain frantically scurried about. "Um… Mother… fell and… um… she fell over the… towel! yeah, the towel, and, uh, broke her back; and since she landed on top of father he… broke his back as well. It was some years ago. Tragic accident." She put on her most innocent expression. Gods, she was an awful liar… but she had to get points for creativity, right?

Hojo didn't so much as bat an eye. "I'm very sorry to hear that. I have to go now, but I'll be back shortly."

It wasn't until he was safely on the other side of the steel door that Hojo dared crease his forehead into the frown that had been threatening to appear the entire time he was in there. Quite apart from her pathetic attempts at lying, there had been something very wrong with her. She looked… paler than she had two days ago. The hollows in her face had been more pronounced, the sunken exhaustion that ringed her eyes with black more drawn, and her hair had lost some of its lustre. The differences were subtle, but he was a cop, and trained to notice stuff like that. Something was afoot…

"Yo."

Startled from his thoughts by the unexpected greeting, Hojo was surprised to see Yusuke standing in the shadows against the opposite wall of the long corridor, his pensive gaze fixed on the thick steel door of Saya's cell. This was very unusual, and it only made Hojo even more sure that something wasn't right if the most disliked member of the force was standing _quietly_, of all things.

If you knew Yusuke as well as Hojo did, you would understand that a quiet Yusuke was a sign of the Apocalypse. Yusuke was as self-centred as a tornado, and was spoilt rotten by his darling daddy. He was loud and a braggart, and was openly cruel in the name of justice. He took pride in being a copper, ironed his uniform daily, and buffed his shoes until they were more buff than shoe. He was a snide, smarmy suck-up with an attitude not even a mother could love. Seeing him standing there, deep in thought and actually looking serious, meant that there was something very important going on that Hojo hadn't been informed of.

"What did she have to say?" Yusuke said with painfully forced casualness. His features were tight. He looked afraid.

"Not much that wasn't a lie," said Hojo, eyeing his work mate suspiciously. "She said her parents were dead, but it was obvious that she wasn't being honest."

"Hm," said Yusuke, and the pitch the 'hm' reached was almost an octave higher than the note Hojo considered to be normal for the generic 'hm.' "I've done some research – you know, looking up her personal details and yadda yadda yadda – and I found nothing, Sarg. Not so much as a birth certificate, no criminal records, no driver's license, no credit card number, not even an address; nothing to say she ever existed. Just this." He pulled out a faded photo(1), and Hojo gasped in disbelief when he saw what the picture was of. It wasn't possible…

"I knew I had seen her somewhere," said Yusuke quietly, his face pale as he watched Hojo's reaction to the crumpled print. He smoothed a finger down the frayed edge of the picture. "Granddaddy told me all about her, you know," he added in a low hush; "he took the case and all, with that teacher, back when he lived in the States… But I never thought…" He broke off, and both men just stared at the picture in numb silence.

The faded black and white photo was obviously ancient. It was simply of some nameless men and women standing in front of some building, all of them dressed formally in the era's fashion of long white dresses and sharp black suits. One girl in particular had a crude circle around her face, obviously drawn in later with permanent ink to draw attention to her hauntingly familiar features. At the top of the picture there were two labels, one reading in chunky black symbols the numbers _1892. _The other label, though, was what caught Hojo's attention. The stark black letters jumped out at him from the white page, but even though the symbols couldn't have been clearer it took his mind a while to fully compute just what it was he was reading. It was impossible… The letters read, _Vampire._

And the face was unmistakably Saya's, despite the cold sharpness that hardened all of what should have been gentle contours into cruel angles and hooded her eyes with a deeply distrustful glare. Her blatantly cold disdain for the other people in the picture was obvious, but despite the fact that such calculating scorn wasn't present in the current girl's features, there was no denying that she and the woman in the picture were the same person. The blurred slope of her cheekbones couldn't be anyone else's, and the shade of black that her hair gleamed with was uniquely hers. Vampire…

"You weren't there," said Yusuke, his voice trembling, and the numb terror in his eyes quickening Hojo's own breathing into shallow pants. "You didn't see the things she did, the way she looked… And that man… must be one as well. He would have gut me, he would've… I saw it in his eyes… Christ Almighty, I never felt so scared in my life as I did in that moment." He laughed, and the hollow quality that the humourless bark carried made Hojo's skin crawl. "Would explain a lot though, like why she doesn't have a birth certificate. She's well over a hundred years old…"

…Wait, what?

That last statement made Hojo pause, and he forcefully quashed his fright for a moment. By now logic had pushed its way through panic, and was waving a handkerchief and cooee-ing for attention. Um, said logic, pushing his spectacles up his nose and blinking owlishly, did Yusuke just suggest Saya was a vampire? Like, a mythical creature only seen in lame horror movies and occasionally in cheap smutty novels? A _vampire_ vampire?

Hojo stopped for a moment and actually thought about it. Logic _did _have a point.

The Sergeant was just about to wave Yusuke off and tell him to pull the other one when he paused, recollection flickering even as logic slapped his forehead before retreating back behind the haze of numbing horror…

Saya'd had an attack just before she could speak, and she would have spoken, he was sure. A horrible attack, it had left her gasping and screaming for breath as her body was robbed of oxygen. She'd flailed about, her _claws _slicing through air that hissed as the razor edges groped and slashed; her _red eyes _glowing as though they had the fires of hell themselves banked behind them; her _fangs _gleaming in the weak fluorescent light when her lips parted to release her pained _howls…_

_Vampire…_

"We can't know that," said Hojo abruptly, cursing mentally when his words came rushed and slightly jumbled. He cleared his throat, and this time when he talked it was with an air of false calm, his features tight with strain. "It could be one of her ancestors in that photo," he said. He only wished he could believe what he was saying. "It doesn't have to be her!"

"You know it is. What are we going to do?"

"How am I supposed to…?" Hojo paused, but by that point logic was pretty much down for the count. He shrugged hopelessly. "Suppose I do believe you," he said quietly, "and I'm not saying I do. If she is what you say, we'll have to tell someone, it's a start. And there have to be people out there who'll-"

"Who'll believe us?! We're claiming she's a vampire for Christ sake, I'm amazed that you are going along with what I'm saying, and you've _seen_ her. No way anyone else would though, they'd call the mental institution on us!"

"You watch too many movies," said Hojo wryly, but he could see Yusuke's point. It was all so fantastic… But God help him, despite what he may say otherwise, Hojo believed the bastard's story. "Well… What if we test her blood? We might find some abnormality in there. If there's nothing, we can let the case rest and accept that the photo is just one of her distant ancestors and everything else was coincidence or hallucination."

"She's been refusing blood tests from the start, remember?" Both men looked at one another grimly; the girl's decision that was only an hour ago nothing but an aggravation now carrying a more sinister implication.

"What do we do?" Yusuke whispered.

"…Keep quiet for the moment, okay? If… If anything happens, we'll come forward with what we know, but in the mean time just try to scrounge up some stuff. Do some research on her and vampires in general. I guess I'll have a word to her…"

"Don't tell her we know what she is! What are you, suicidal?!"

"I'll be subtle, okay! I just have to wait for her to say something incriminating before I can put all my faith in that photo. You're a right ass, Yusuke, for all I know this whole thing is just you being a dickhead."

"You know that's not it," said Yusuke, deadly calm. "What about the other guy? The one that punk kid said killed the gang along with 'someone else,' who we now know was more than likely the girl in there?" He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the thick steel door.

Hojo sighed, rubbing his temples with his index fingers to soothe away the headache that was beginning to drill through his skull. "The team is already looking for that guy after that whole being 'moved to another establishment' bullshit; we don't have to interfere at all with that. Just keep looking, find as much information about Saya and vampires in general as you can."

Yusuke nodded, his youthful face still ashen, and coated with a sheen of cold sweat that glistened in the weak light that buzzed above them. He opened his mouth, but shook his head and snapped it closed again before walking away without another word, the echo of his clicking heels slowly fading into silence.

Hojo let out a breath and slumped against the wall, raising a trembling hand to cradle his aching head. What the hell was going on?! If he didn't know Yusuke better he'd swear that the punk was trying to make a fool of him, but though Yusuke was a bastard he was an honest bastard, and the haunted look in his eyes told Hojo that at least Yusuke believed what he was saying was true. And he'd seen it himself in her, but he'd explained it all away… But a vampire… He had to admit, it explained a lot of things that were previously unexplainable. But a _vampire…_

He stared in numb silence at the door, the once innocent block of steel now appearing to loom menacingly over him. Just behind those doors was a pretty girl, a girl with sunshine in her movements, a haunted sadness in her eyes and a smile that looked plump and sweet. A girl who was a vampire.

A _vampire…_

God, help us all…

* * *

(1) I've decided to include the events of Blood: The Last Vampire here, which is like a prequel to the Blood+ series. If you've seen it, you'll remember that the school nurse woman who found out about Saya was at the end being questioned by the police, and she was shown the photo of Saya in the poofy hat and long white dress from 1892. In my story, one of the officers there who showed the nurse the picture was Yusuke's grandpa. It's not essential that you know what went on in The Last Vampire to follow my story, but I do recommend you check it out if you haven't, just coz it's so cool. :þ

Quote of the Day!!

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'."

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."

These two brought to you by George Bush! 'til later, peeps!! XD


	10. Chapter 10

A.N. I know, I know, I took a super-dooper long time to update... But I have a brilliant, fantastic, _incredible _reason... deep breath... I'VE GOT A NEW COMPUTER!!

-gushing- Yes, that's right, a brand spanking new computer that _doesn't _have the intelligence of a retarded ant. It's _wonderful, _it's widescreen and has broadband internet, and all the keys work on the keyboard! And it starts with only the push of a button, I no longer have to turn it upside down and bash it with a hammer. _And,_ it greets me with a smiley face when it's first turned on, rather than my old computer's oh-so-cheerful 'Warning: error type 1675 87142b. Restart.'

Yes, life is gooood. -sighs happily-

Oh but before I get on with the long-awaited chappie, I wanted to address something that one of my lovely darling reviewers brought up. They said: 'But wasn't it Haji's blood that first made Saya remember?' My take on the situation is that while in the anime it was Haji's blood that made Saya begin to remember, it didn't necessarily have to be. Even before tasting his blood it's made obvious that she vaguely recognised him, and I think that if she was given more time her memories would have come back on their own. Haji's blood was just a booster of sorts, speeding up the process so that she would remember how to defend herself against the attacking Chiropteran. At least, that's how I'm going to take it. I don't really want to go back and change anything more. But thanks for your question, and also to everyone else who's noticed little (or big) errors in my story! Anyone whose questions I haven't answered, that's only because they'll be addressed later on in the story.

So, my happy rant over with, on with the show!!

* * *

How is it that we really know ourselves? Really, really, _know _ourselves?

Is the knowledge deep within, in the way our hearts beat and in the way our muscles shift? Is it in our laughter, the sounds of our voice when it whispers or screams? Who are we really; how much of who we are is written in our minds and marrow, and how much is artificial, a product of the outside world seeping into our unconscious thoughts and actions? Is it possible to ever truly know who you are?

…What if you had no memories of who you were, what then? Could you ever rediscover yourself, or, without you even knowing, would your entire personality flip upside down without the external or even internal factors of before?

And this is what Saya needed to know, needed with a desperation that haunted her. She needed to know who she was in her core, needed to know the extent and the price of the power that flooded her veins. She knew already who she loved, felt her emotions for Aika, Aiko, Haji, Kai – for all her dear friends – surge through her entire being. She, however inexplicably, knew that much with a certainty that surprised her. And even though there were dark corners in her mind that were like a minefield, full of places she dared not tread, she wanted desperately to complete herself and appease the nagging hollowness in her mind that insisted that she was not whole without the truth of her past, however vile it may be.

Time and flashes of dreams had revealed to her the barest of snippets of her past: she remembered that she had loved Haji with an intensity that bordered on painful, knew that he had died and that now lived only for her; she knew that her twin, Diva, had been a beautiful girl born to an ugly world that had crushed her mind until there was nothing left but a twisted child; she knew that she, Saya, had killed. She had seen the ghosts wailing soundlessly for her in her dreams and was far too afraid to rest anymore, but at the same time too afraid not to…

Almost a whole week had passed. The officers were still looking for evidence, but as of tomorrow they no longer had the authorisation to hold her without any proof of her involvement and she would be released. If they did happen to find something, though – a print, some DNA, anything that might connect her to the murders – then she'd probably be imprisoned for life. Still, her hopes were cautiously high. What was the chance that they'd find something over night, after all?

Saya sighed. It was dreary in her lonely little cell, but at least she'd had some time to think things through and fully come to grips with what had been happening. Through her existential angst and traumatised thoughts and teasing snippets of memory, she'd somehow managed to make some decisions concerning her relationship with Haji.

"I want to give us a chance," she whispered aloud, and the sound of her own voice echoing dimly throughout the chilled room gave her a small measure of comfort. "I don't really know him, but I want to… I like him very much, but I want to love him like I know I once did. He feels… right." And that feeling was more important than anything else to her right now.

The Chiropteran girl looked through exhausted eyes up at the cold concrete ceiling, the heat smoking in her blood for once not the focus of her tortured thoughts. True, she did want to love him. But did she deserve to love him? She had killed, and he seemed too untainted and untouchable to ever associate with one as dirtied and broken as she felt she must be… But, had _he_ killed? The very thought made her shudder. Why? What could possibly drive them to spill blood? To take innocent lives?

Saya's trembling started afresh, her pained maroon eyes slipping closed as guilt and exhaustion gripped her tight. She hadn't had a full night sleep in an age and it was really beginning to wear on her, and it only made her all the more susceptible to the attacks that demanded that she get out and go to Haji, wherever he was. She braced herself, feeling the familiar jolts of burning electricity sparking deep in her bones…

The door creaked, and Saya desperately struggled to contain the fire that nibbled teasingly on her skin. Relieved that she had caught it in time she turned her head toward the noise, hoping that whoever was visiting brought her some food. She was so hungry that if it wasn't for the dull throbbing within she'd think she was nothing but a hollow husk. She was living on three small meals that were delivered morning, noon, and night, but anyone who's ever seen Saya eat knows that she has a very different metabolism to humans, and requires daily very large portions of food in order to properly function. Said girl grimaced as a stab of pain whited out her vision for a moment. A large beaker of blood would be appreciated, as well… Still, she suppressed her heat and looked again to the cell entrance.

Hojo stood in the doorway, foodless, unfortunately. He looked as tense and tired as she herself must, his eyes ringed with dark blue and looking everywhere but into her own exhausted orbs. He was so different to the confidant young man he had been a scant five or so days before. He even smelt different. He seemed to be almost afraid…

"Hey," she rasped, a watery but genuine smile turning her lips and making her eyes light, if only dimly. "I haven't… seen you in a while." She made to sit up but it took too much effort, so she plopped back down onto the mattress with a muffled grunt. A pained look overcame her features, but she managed a small smile when her tremors were once again successfully quashed. She'd made a promise that no one else would ever have to die or suffer because of her, and she wasn't planning on breaking her promise now by letting her rage overwhelm her and revealing the demons inside her to Hojo. No more pain…

"I've been around," Hojo said vaguely, and she couldn't help but notice that he didn't leave the safety of the doorframe to properly enter the room like he usually did. "Busy, as usual." The smile he gave her was fake and strained, flickering from his face so quickly it was as though someone flicked a light switch rapidly up then down. He lifted a distracted hand to run his fingers through his hair, and Saya paused mid-inhale, puzzled. He did smell funny, but it wasn't of fear…

"Will I… be able t-to leave soon?" Saya asked, forcing her words past her now chattering teeth. Her nose scrunched in confusion, the movement barely distinguishable from the uncontrolled twitching of her facial muscles. It was an oddly familiar smell...

"Hm? Oh, yes. You'll be released tomorrow, unless something is discovered overnight. We'll be continuing our investigations for a while longer, but as of tomorrow we no longer have the authorisation to hold you here without cause." He paused and looked closely at her, as though only just now noticing her sweating face and sporadically jerking limbs as she struggled to remain still. "You don't look so good," he said, and his eyes darkened with his concern. "You're sure you don't know what's wrong?" Taking a deep breath Hojo took a daring step into the room, standing directly over the cot that Saya lay in. This was it…

Saya wrinkled her nose, but didn't shy away from his presence. "I-I'm… pos-positive," she said, looking up at the man who was now standing so close he was almost pressed against her. Her words were staggered and broken, the syllables spit desperately through painfully clenched teeth. It hurt to talk. "This sort of thing has… has never… happened before."

Hojo nodded with a suppressed sigh, and was just leaving through the door when Saya called out, "Oh, and… and Hojo?"

He turned back. "Yes?"

"…You might w-want to take a bath." She fluttered a slender hand in front of her nose exaggeratedly.

The officer visibly sagged. "Yes. Yes, of course." He waited until the steel door closed with its vibrating 'clang' before he dug furiously inside his shirt, pulling out the pungent string of garlic he'd put under his top. "Damn," he muttered moodily, and tossed the lot into a convenient rubbish bin. He was beginning to have some doubts about the whole vampire thing…

He shook his head exasperatedly and opened the door again, ignoring the screech of the tortured hinges. He was being ridiculous. It was time to get some things sorted out once and for all…

"Saya, are you a vampire?" he said bluntly.

For a long while there was silence, broken only by Saya's ragged breathing as her fragile form struggled to take in air while she desperately re-suppressed the spasms of her limbs. In the weak light her pale face looked almost ghostly, the dark hair that pooled around her slender body making her face look even whiter than it was.

"This is completely off the record," Hojo added helpfully, daring to enter the room and close the door. He shook his head when Saya's eyes darted automatically toward the surveillance camera in the corner of the room. "No one else has to know anything you say to me, I swear no one else will find out. I just want to know whether or not you're anything I should be afraid of. Whether you're a… I guess a mythical creature, or not."

"What m-makes you… think I might be?" said Saya, and though her voice was raspy it was hard with suspicion. Please, please, please leave, she begged mentally, choking back a pained gasp when a violent spasm whited out her vision for a moment. She couldn't hold back much longer…

"Many things." Hojo sat on the end of the bed. "Talk to me? I promise, nothing you say will leave this room. I don't like being afraid of you, and because I truly don't think you're a dangerous person I want to clear this up."

Saya tried to breathe evenly, but it was difficult. She bit her lip, staring hard at the ceiling as her mind whirled.

Oh, to be able to talk about it. To let someone know how afraid she was, to have someone see and _know_. To have someone tell her whether she was normal or not, maybe even someone to tell her what to do…

But it couldn't ever be.

She stared at Hojo, who looked back, his eyes bright beneath the fluorescent light that buzzed above them. Saya swallowed, her fingers curling into a fist. Her stomach twisted and her throat tightened. No. Not Hojo. He was too kind, too sweet for her to burden with such a tainted thing as the bloodthirsty beast that hungered beneath her skin. "… I'm not a my-mythical creature," she whispered. She was telling the truth, too. She wasn't just a myth. She was sitting right there.

"Are you a vampire, then?"

"Wasn't… the last time I checked." Again, she was telling the truth. She had no idea what vampires were, and last time she had asked she had been told she was a Chiropteran.

"Do you need a coffin, or some blood or anything?" said Hojo warily. "If you really are a vampire, that is…"

Saya's ears pricked. Blood? She couldn't imagine what she'd need a coffin of all things for, but yes, she did need blood, badly. She needed it so that she could better control the pain of her heat. She needed it so that she had the strength of body and mind to not go on another killing spree. She needed it to live, as well… But, could she risk telling Hojo? Her limbs twitched slightly, heat coursing through her bones and clenching her muscles. It burned and throbbed, and her eyes flared pink.

"Get out," Saya said frantically. "Get out of here or I'll-!" She broke off with a growl, her body arching upward as pain wracked her limbs.

Hojo looked nervous, but didn't move away. "Why should I leave, Saya?" he insisted boldly. "What will you do if I don't?"

She groaned, her teeth elongating to slide over her bottom lip despite her best efforts. Sweat beaded her brow, and her claws tore bloody crescents into the tender flesh of her palm. Demonic crimson-shot eyes stretched grotesquely wide and locked onto the startled officer. "_Eat you_," she growled. Her hold over her body at last snapping with an almost audible crack, Saya threw her head back and screamed.

The Chiropteran girl began to convulse uncontrollably, her teeth gnashing, her limbs flailing and her hair tossing wildly as she bucked. Her mouth stretched in a soundless shriek she arched off the mattress, her insides burning from her core out as her incisors extended, her eyes flashed crimson and her lengthened fingernails tore the sheet below her to ribbons.

"Get me blood!" she screamed desperately when she at last found her voice. "Please, oh please, I need blood!" She needed blood, she needed control, she needed all her friends, she needed Haji, she needed… Oh, she just _needed_!

"Holy shit," Hojo breathed, his terror as he watched her transformation so great that it paralysed him to the spot. "You're a… oh, my God…"

"Blood," Saya begged, her eyes burning painfully from inside as they begun to glow a violent shade of crimson. "Blood…" Her control was slipping. "Blood!" Her words were little more than garbled snarls.

"_Vampire_," Hojo choked. His eyes stretched wide with fear and his breath coming in terrified gasps, Hojo gave a frightened yelp as something primal within him demanded that he run from the age-old threat. Blindly obeying the consuming call to flee he dashed toward the door and began scrabbling at the locks, cursing himself for taking the threat so lightly that he _fucking locked the fucking door_… Saya's tortured howls quickened his shaking fingers until at last the door flew open, and almost sobbing in relief Hojo darted through the narrow opening and slammed the metal block closed behind him.

Saya's screams disappeared abruptly from behind the thick steel. The only sound now was that of his own breath, the broken pants echoing down the long, empty corridor. Whimpering he slid down the length of the door until he was sitting down, his trembling hands cradled in his lap as silent tears of pure terror coursed unchecked down his pale cheeks. "Oh, God," he whispered, the words bouncing back at him from the cold corridor walls. "Oh, God." He sat there for a long, long while.

After a few long minutes he stood up, deathly pale and trembling a little, but otherwise outwardly fine. After the slightest of hesitations he began to walk away from the towering steel door of cell 15A, his pace quickening the further away he got until he was jogging down the empty corridor. Upon reaching the double doors he closed a quivering hand over the handle, managing on the third try to open it into the already thinning crowds within the main building, the late hour having seen most of them home. He ignored any greetings or concerned looks he received from the others. It was all real, he thought dazedly. Vampire… "I'm going home," he told a random workmate. The chill within had settled deep in his stomach, icing him over from the inside out and turning his bones brittle. His stomach hurt. It felt like he had eaten something terrible, but couldn't throw it up. "I'll see you later."

He strode into his office and grabbed his things, but instead of heading out the front door into the night he walked in another direction, his body on autopilot as his feet walked the familiar route along the darkened corridor. His brain felt far too fragile to take more than a distant interest in proceedings, so it simply tuned out while his body took control.

The officer's hands pushed open the door marked PATHOLOGY, not noticing or perhaps simply not caring that there was no one at the front desk to wave him in. It was late, and many department branches had already gone home for the night.

Using his access card to automatically unlock the doors Hojo strode into the main lab, the fluorescent lights flickering on as he walked amongst the steel benches, the clicking of his shoes filling the otherwise noiseless room. He silently pulled on a pair of plastic gloves and tied a mask around his face, slicking his hair back with water when he couldn't find a hair net. Surprisingly steady hands knotted a smock over his uniform, and only then did his dulled eyes turn to the wall of freezers. He had to see. He had to know…

He pulled a random freezer door open and slid out the tray within, his face eerily deadpan even in face of the mutilated carnage that lay under his blank scrutiny. Hisae had obviously been working some more since he had last seen her, since the sick jigsaw of body parts was, at least for this particular body, complete. Good. It made everything a little easier.

Moving the body to the work bench, Hojo studied the severed limbs with clinical indifference. Fitting an arm back into the shoulder socket it had been torn out of he studied the jagged cuts that surrounded the stump. Of those cuts there were four in particular that caught his eye; four long, thick, diagonal slices. Slices that had been made by neither blade nor glass...

Hojo lightly pressed his finger tips to the ends of the cuts and slid his hand along the length of the wound, his fingertips ghosting down the four parallel slits. He had to bite back a whimper as his fingernails slid into the gouges perfectly, his pupils dilating and sweat beading on his forehead as the enormity of the situation began to press down on his mind.

Hojo swallowed thickly and forced his eyes to move down to the corpse's legs. Last time he was here he had noticed that there were pockmarks on the ragged flesh of the calf, little indents amongst the gore. He pressed his face close to the body until his lips were almost touching freezing cold skin, his gloved fingers trembling now as they lightly pushed past his lips to touch the points of his incisors, the same digits then smoothing over the small marks.

He shuddered, closing his eyes and fighting the urge to retch as the truth of the situation presented itself at last in all its dreadful glory. Dull horror curdled deep in his stomach, making him grab the edge of the bench with a white-knuckled grip before his quivering legs could buckle. It was all _real_… Good God… It was all true. It really had been her. She'd done that to those poor kids… Hojo took a deep breath, his eyelids lifting to reveal tormented brown orbs.

He couldn't let her go free. There was no way he could ever allow such a monster to escape back into human society.

He had no choice.

He had to tell someone what he knew.

* * *

The Chiropteran girl bat her eyes, clasping her hands pleadingly and making sure her bright blue orbs glittered _just_ so. While on the surface she was the very epitome of a young girl in distress, inwardly she was cackling away like a mad woman.

Aika knew that in many ways, she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. In fact, if she was going to be completely honest, when it came to things like quantum and quadratics and many other aspects of tertiary education, she was probably more of a spoon. But in other ways, as her adoptive father often grumbled, she was sharp enough to cut herself.

Aika knew that she was very_ good _at people. She was frighteningly accurate when it came to guessing how a person really felt by looking into their eyes and reading their stance, and so was also very good at guessing what would come next based on the emotions and reactions of people. What she saw in people let her know how to respond to any given situation, and her talents were helping her mightily now.

Subtly hitching her skirt a little higher so that it just barely grazed mid-thigh, Aika turned her quivery pout and glistening blue saucer-eyes to full power, noting with no small amount of satisfaction that the officer she was slowly but surely twining around her little finger was just about to crack despite his outwardly stoic front.

"Please?" she wheedled. She'd pitched her voice to be innocently girly, but at the same time laced it with undertones that echoed with memories of ancient terror. The unnatural glint in the odd girl's eyes travelled straight to a small, knobbly bit in the officer's spine and repeatedly pressed the button marked 'Primal Terror,' her gaze making him tremble for reasons the logical parts of his mind couldn't rationalise. Her penetrating eyes ignited within him the most ancient of instincts, buried under the gloss of civilisation but still whispering of great hulking beasts and screams in the night and eyes glowing in the darkness… Her vivid blue eyes flashed victoriously behind the sheen of glistening tears.

"I know it's late," Aika said tearfully, "but Saya's my best friend, and I felt so _helpless _and _frightened _when I heard what happened. Please, can't I just see her for a moment so that I can be sure that she's okay?"

"…I'll have to ask Sergeant Suzuki," the officer sighed at last, visibly sagging in defeat as he shook off the effects of her piercing gaze. He shook his head ruefully, his heart slowing to its usual pace. Must be working too hard, if he was thinking stuff like_ that _about such a nice looking gal… "He's in charge of the case. Aogi," he called over his shoulder to a sandy-haired woman, who turned quizzically, "can you find me Suzuki?"

"I'm _so _grateful for your help," Aika sighed, shooting a triumphant grin over to a window and receiving a small nod from the figure standing there looking in. "I just wish there were some way to repay such kindness…"

The officer squirmed slightly, clearly unused to such praise. "It was nothing," he said shyly, and Aika bit back a smirk. "Just glad to be of help."

The two were interrupted by Aogi, who jogged up to them. "Suzuki's nowhere to be found, sir," she sighed. "Minami says he's just gone home. Apparently he looked horrible. Poor thing, he's been working real hard on that case…"

"I see…" The officer bit his lip, looking at the pretty young girl who stood next to him. She smiled encouragingly, and the hopeful light in her clear blue eyes could only be measured in megawatts. Could he really say no to that face?

"I guess I can take you myself, if it's just a quick visit," he sighed, painfully aware of the blinding smile of thanks she bestowed upon him. "Just a quick visit," he warned, gently taking her hand and leading her through the corridors. "This isn't really allowed without a superior's permission you understand, but Suzuki shouldn't mind."

"Of course," said Aika, chancing a quick thumbs up to the man in the window, who nodded and disappeared out of sight.

The week was almost up, and the guys had felt confident enough to send Aika in under cover to go talk to Saya and find out just what had been happening and, more specifically, whether or not they should go ahead with their plan to break into the station. David's old workmates hadn't been all that forthcoming when it came to details, and since tonight would be the last chance they had to get her out if Saya really was going to be carted off to prison, they had to know for sure whether she was being released or not. Apparently it was next to impossible to break into the actual jail, since when he was still on the force David himself had done everything in his power to make the prison walls as impenetrable as humanly possible… a fact he was now sorely regretting.

Aika smiled amiably, looking around curiously at the few people who still remained in the building at such a late hour. _Hang tight, Saya, _the Chiropteran girl whispered to herself, her smile innocent and her eyes pure as they mentally mapped the layout of the prison and the winding route to Saya's cell. _I'll get you out of here if I have to kill everyone to get to you._

And outside, the dark figure from the window shadowed her steps exactly from the other side of the wall.

* * *

So, how was that? Poor Saya's going through some existential angst and poor Hojo's in a bit of grief... Yusuke wasn't in this chapter, but I swear if the average review had their way he'd be crawling around with a pitchfork in his back, a black eye, and a severely kicked shin. I guess I made him pretty damn unlikeable... Mission accomplished :D

Anyway, I hope this was worth the wait. Now that my new computer is up and running at last (YAY!!) future updates should be a little more frequent. I won't make promises though, cause we all know what happens when I jinx myself like that... Anyway, I'll see you all later! And review, because if you don't, I'll send Haji after you!!

-crickets-

-sweatdrops- Uh... Right, my bad... Review, because if you do, I'll send Haji after you!! -watches, satisfied, as people scramble to review-

Quote of the day...

'Death is God's way of saying: You're fired. Suicide is Man's way of saying: You can't fire me, I quit!

-This quote, brought to you by **theonenameleft**!! If you, or anyone else, want to add more to my quote collection, please feel free!


	11. Chapter 11

-sigh- Honestly, you guys are lucky I love you all so much. It's been a stinking hot summer, it was all I could do to drag myself from the pool, so if this chapter's a little forced-sounding that's my excuse. On New Years Eve alone it was, like, forty-something degrees... in fahrenheit, that's over a hundred degrees. Yeah. Stinking. -shakes her fist at global warming-

Anywho, I'll be off relaxing all this week and maybe some of the next by a river some fifty kilometres away from my computer. Of course, all this means is that I'll be so bored I'll probably finish writing the bleedin' story in my notebook, so no worries there.

BTW, I hope everyone had a Cracking Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Wonderful Kwanzaa... Yeah, season's greetings to y'all. XD

* * *

Haji closed his eyes, leaning back against the rough trunk of the tree whose buttresses he was sitting upon. His posture misleadingly relaxed, he studiously ignored the hissed orders and hurried movements of the Red Shield members positioned outside the police base. The one thing to betray the Chevalier's otherwise unaffected expression was his disfigured hand, the scarred fingers having unconsciously clenched into a somewhat crooked fist. The knuckles only whitened further as he thought about the events of the last few minutes.

Bluntly put, things were _not_ going well.

The ashen-faced Aika had come back out of the building after a scant twenty minutes, her solemn speechlessness saying more about the condition Saya must be in than anything else. Her blunt report had been ruthless in its honesty, and merely imagining what his Saya must be going through made Haji's fist tighten until blood dribbled from between his pale fingers.

"_She's in a bad way," Aika said solemnly. "I couldn't convince the guy to let me speak to her without the boss-man there, but I could see her through the slot in the door, and she's taking this heat thing badly without blood, and especially without Haji. She'd torn through the skin of her palm with her fingernails, I could see the bloodstains, and her bottom lip was all… gnawed, and raw looking. Her breathing was bad, all shallow and choked – we really can't wait anymore, you guys. We can't take the risk, if she really does go to prison, she'll die for sure."_

A few minutes after Aika had given her report Lewis had called them over with even _more _bad news, showing them the feed from the surveillance camera in Saya's cell that he and Kunio had hacked into. All present had watched on in grim silence as before their eyes Saya became a savage beast, the officer who witnessed the transformation screaming and racing from the room. There was little doubt now that Saya was indeed going to be locked away if only the officer could prove it, so to be safe immediately after showing everyone the footage Lewis deleted the scene from the camera's memory.

Haji clenched his teeth, frustrated beyond words. It hadn't been enough. Near helpless they'd all nonetheless worked diligently from the sidelines, making it next to impossible for anyone to legally take any blood or DNA samples and sneaking around eradicating all evidence from fingerprints to witnesses. Lulu (who over the years had become quite skilled with a computer) had been working alongside the newly arrived Joel for the past week, ensuring that there was no information available on Saya or Chiropteran in general while the others simply did what they could. The one kid to survive Saya's attack had not made it through the week once Haji had realised that his survival would mean extra trouble for his mistress. But, it still hadn't been enough… Saya was suffering. They had to get her out of there, no matter what.

"Okay," David breathed, catching Haji's attention and breaking the tense silence that had fallen to take command over the situation. "The time for subtlety has passed, there's nothing for it now but to smuggle Saya out quickly as possible. Aika's just got out of there, so we can't send her back in so soon…" He turned his solemn periwinkle gaze to Aiko, who squeaked.

"What?!" she shrieked, her eyes widening in her horror.

"Aiko," David wheedled. "You've dealt with situations like this before, and no one else here has the ability to get in there undiscovered, let alone the strength to restrain Saya if she gets out of hand. Maybe if I was thirty years younger I'd go myself, but that was a long time ago. You're our only option, girl."

"But, me?!" Aiko protested shrilly. "On my own? I'd never make it past the front desk! Can't Haji come as well?"

"That might not be such a good idea," said Julia, sharing an anxious glance with Lewis and her husband.

"Please?" Aiko bit her lip worriedly. "I can't do something like this on my own, I can't lie well at all and I'm not as confident as my sister is. It was always Aika who did the actual physical work in our past missions, I was more back up, the one to secure the area before hand and take care of any witnesses and type up reports for Joel…"

The frightened girl's ramblings were interrupted by the pressure of a hand on her shoulder, and turning her maroon eyes over her shoulder she was surprised when the panic-wide orbs alighted on Haji. His pale features were cool, but tight with grim determination. "I will accompany you," he said softly, ignoring the startled gasps of the assembled humans.

"That is perhaps not wise," Kunio said bravely, flinching a little when Haji's stony gaze rested squarely on him. The human man swallowed, but refused to back down. "Not only will Saya probably… 'react' to your presence, also the officers know what you look like and will undoubtedly recognise you." Everyone nodded feverishly.

"I am going," Haji repeated, his eyes daring anyone to press the matter. "Saya needs me, and since Lulu is not present there is no one else readily available to accompany Aiko. Witnesses are not an issue. I will not be seen."

"Maybe Haji _should_ go," said Aika speculatively. "He's good at hiding in the shadows out of sight – a lot better than I am, anyway – and he'll get my sister through the building alright. Aiko wasn't lying; she really hasn't been on many actual missions. And you said it yourself David, we can't afford for anyone to screw this up. Better to have a wild Saya than no Saya, and if nothing else Haji can restrain her long enough to get her out here to safety."

David was quiet for a long moment, his eyes worried as they silently scrutinised the stoic Chevalier who stood proud and defiant before him. Was it really worth the risk? "Alright," he sighed at last. "But only because Aiko's right, a wild Saya can at least be contained. But bring her straight out here when you retrieve her, alright? We'll… We'll take care of her from there. We can't afford to have her loose."

"'Kay," Aiko breathed. Haji narrowed his eyes in disapproval at the elderly man's order, but since the Chevalier said nothing in the contrary David let his stern silence pass.

"You know what to do once inside," Julia said, taking over command. "But just in case something comes up, take these with you." She passed the pair a tiny microphone each that they clipped inconspicuously on their clothing, as well as a miniature speaker that fit in the shell of their ears. "It's probably best that we don't rely on the security cameras to watch you, since hackers now-a-days are pretty easily traceable. What we'll do instead is put the security cameras on a loop, so that the same scene is shown again and again every thirty seconds. Since there are comparatively few people around at this time of night anyway the lack of people walking around shouldn't be suspicious. This also means that Haji won't have to worry about dodging the cameras, just make sure you're not seen by any passers-by. Oh, and also," here Julia gestured at her son, who took the hint and passed her two small plastic cases, "I have here a retina cam that allows us back here to see everything that you do. Aiko, sit down here in front of me, please."

Aiko did as she was told, looking a little apprehensive. Julia opened the container, plucking the lens that rested in the sticky solution with a pair of tweezers while gripping the younger girl's chin with her other hand. Slipping the transparent disc over Aiko's eye, Julia scrutinised her handiwork before nodding, satisfied, and moving on to Haji.

"There, that's taken care of," said Julia, looking pleased at her work. "Now Haji, do you remember the way to Saya's cell?"

The Chevalier nodded. He'd memorised the route Aika had taken having mirrored her steps from outside the building, following the soft bleeps of the tracking device that had been slipped into the girl's shoe.

"Good." Julia breathed a long stream of air out her nose. "Well… Good luck, I suppose."

"Good luck," David, Lewis, Kunio and Aika echoed. Haji and Aiko nodded, then without any further ado vanished into the shadows.

* * *

Aiko was scared stiff, but tried hard not to let it show. She consciously evened her breaths, focusing on slowing her heart beat in an attempt at distracting herself from her paranoia. It had been agreed that the best thing to do would be to act natural, as though she had every right to be there, and hopefully no one would question her. Haji's presence was so _distracting_ though, the very knowledge that he was lurking just around the corner making the hairs on her arms and neck all stand on end. It was even more unsettling to turn said corner and not find a trace of him.

Pausing to wait for a few seconds until Lewis overrode the security code that was required for her to pass through the door, Aiko took a chance and whispered, "H-Hello? Anybody there?"

_This is Julia speaking, _a soft voice crackled through the speaker that nestled in her ear. _How are things so far? Oh, Lewis has just informed me that he's overridden the code; you can go on through now. _

"No one has suspected anything yet, but it's still early on," Aiko murmured as quietly as she could, opening the door with a soft click and closing it firmly behind her. "We've just passed through the main corridor, now we're entering the west wing. The cell Saya's being kept in is just beyond in the south wing, is that right?"

_That's right. Good luck, you two._

"Thanks, Julia."

Aiko walked on in silence for a while, her senses strained to the max and every nerve on edge. "Haji?" she whispered aloud, needing some reassurance of his presence aside from the prickling of the hairs on the back of her neck. "You there?"

_I'm here, _Haji murmured. _Are you all right? _

"I'm fine," Aiko breathed. "Just a little nervous."

_Concentrate, _Haji said softly. _There are people approaching. Three people. One of them is that boy that I almost killed; the other is the officer who witnessed Saya's attack. The third I do not know._

Aiko gulped, but dutifully hid herself in the shadows, straining her enhanced senses in order to hear their conversation.

* * *

"I swear to you, sir, I'm not lying!" Hojo pleaded, trying in vain to make his superior listen to his warning. Yusuke, who had been forced by the narrow corridor to walk a little in front of the arguing Sergeant and Chief Detective, turned back long enough to nod feverishly in agreement with Hojo's words.

"I know that without the DNA conformation to prove that it was Saya's fingernails that did all that damage, my argument may be… well, a little unconvincing," Hojo continued, desperation increasing the pitch and haste of his words, "but surely –"

"A little unconvincing?!" interrupted the Chief Detective Kenta Yamaguchi, his eyes wide with frustration and disbelief. "Hojo, you're a good man and honestly, I want to trust your word. But your claims that Saya is a _vampire _of all things are flawed at best, and though we haven't been permitted by the damn courts for some reason that's beyond me to have a doctor look at her, I'm sure that there's a perfectly reasonable medical condition that explains away all the poor girl's symptoms." By now the threesome had reached Kenta's office and the older man was wrapping his hand around the door handle.

"Please, sir," Hojo begged. "There is one more way to prove my argument… Just look at the footage from the security cameras and listen to what she says to me!" The memory of their brief conversation was still painfully fresh in the young Sergeant's mind…

"_Get out of here!"_

"_What will you do if I don't?"_

"_Eat you…"_

"Hojo," Kenta sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and leaning tiredly against the door. Normally a quiet and collected man whose commanding presence inspired loyalty and respect from his bigger built subordinates, tonight his near inexhaustible patience was being put to the test. Hojo and Yusuke had been bugging him about this ridiculous vampire thing for a good twenty minutes, and had it been any man but honest, dependable and damn intelligent Hojo, he would have sent them away long ago. But as it stood…

"Alright," Kenta huffed, looking sourly at his wristwatch and grimacing tiredly at it. Three o'clock already, he should have been home and in bed hours ago… Still, he reluctantly released the door handle and moved down the corridor to where the security camera feed was handled. "Just a quick look. Then I want you both out of here and back home, you hear?"

"Thankyou, thankyou sir," Hojo breathed, grinning tiredly at Yusuke's accompanying sigh of relief. It was a start. It had come as a shock when the Chief Detective had told him that no one would ever buy his story that Saya had torn those boys apart with her fingernails and teeth without proof from DNA, which the courts had already ruled as being unattainable. Still, his hopes were tentatively raised. Maybe the sight of Saya transforming into a monster and snarling that she'd eat him would be enough to make Kenta listen to him… Even if all he did was announce that she was mentally unstable, it was a good start.

Aiko's breath caught, and she heard Haji's own agitated hiss crackling through the speaker. "Did you hear that?" the Chiropteran girl whispered.

_It's all right, _said Julia confidently. _They can look at the tapes. We deleted the files, remember? _There was some rustling, and the sounds of a whispered conversation before Julia's voice returned. _I take back what I said, stop them from looking at those tapes! Kunio's just told me that while the loop isn't evident to anyone who's only interested in present happenings, it will be easily picked up if anyone tries to read the camera's memory. We can't afford to remove the loop because we don't know where all the cameras are, and we can't risk Haji being discovered. Stop those men, Aiko!_

"Yes ma'am," Aiko breathed, checking for any on-lookers before darting up the corridor.

_Stop! _Haji hissed. _More people are approaching!_

Aiko cursed under her breath but obediently slowed her sprint to a casual walk, nodding and smiling politely at the uniformed men who were approaching.

"Evening!" said one, grinning tiredly at her. "I should say 'morning' though, really, shouldn't I? They always seem to give the tough, time-consuming jobs to us small towners… I haven't seen you around, what department do you belong to?"

"Entomology,"(1) said Aiko brightly. "_Fascinating_ stuff, entomology. I'm just going to wash any stray maggots from my hair, so if you'll excuse me…"

The newcomers wrinkled their nose slightly, but to Aiko's annoyance didn't go away. "Yeah?" one drawled, flashing the fidgeting Chiropteran a friendly smile. "We're policemen, plain and boring compared to your job. Say, Trev, weren't you thinking of going into entomology?"

One of the policemen nodded, grinning sheepishly. "Yeah, heard it pays more. What's your salary, then? See, the missus has a baby on the way, and –"

"It's been lovely chatting, really it has," said Aiko desperately, watching helplessly as the three men disappeared around the corner. "But I really have to go!"

The men nodded sagely. "Ah, sorry to keep you, you're probably wanting to get home, aren't you? It's just so rare that there's someone else about at this time of night, especially a girl as…"

"She's gone, Satoshi."

"So she has. Shame. She was cute."

* * *

Aiko paused, scanning the length of the corridor with growing desperation. Where did they go?

"The three men have already reached their destination," said Haji sourly, giving Aiko a start. He'd been unable to move ahead without being seen, so had resigned himself as Aiko had to waiting until those men had vanished before making his appearance.

"What do we do now?" said Aiko wretchedly. "Now we have to worry about those three on top of rescuing Saya!"

_Maybe it's a good thing Haji came along after all, _said Julia pensively. _You two could split up to save on time, one of you dealing with the three humans while the other retrieves Saya. Are you alright with that, Aiko?_

"I guess so," the Chiropteran said reluctantly. Though her eyes were still dull with concern, her growing determination lent them a hard sheen. "I'll try my best, at any rate."

_Good girl, _said Julia quietly. _You, obviously, will have to go and get Saya…_

"No, I will do that," said Haji firmly.

"Haji," Aiko pleaded. "This is not the time to be difficult."

The Chevalier met her eyes with a disdainful glare. He had been thinking the matter through for a long time, and was irked that no one trusted his judgement when it came to Saya's safety, of all things. "I can give her blood and therefore return a good portion of her sanity," he informed her coolly. "I don't know what would happen if she tried to take blood from the daughter of Diva."

Julia sucked in a breath. The chance that Saya might, in her insanity, drink Aiko's blood was obviously something that had not occurred to her. _I'm not sure how Aiko's blood would affect Saya's system and I don't really want to find out now, _she said after a long pause. _Alright Haji, you win, I can see that we have no other choice. Aiko, you stay with the humans. Haji… Haji, you go get Saya._

"Yes ma'am." Aiko sighed miserably, watching as Haji gave her a brief nod in farewell before making his way up the corridor alone. It was becoming painfully evident that they hadn't really thought this whole thing through properly after all. "What should I do?"

_Find out what room they're in, for starters._

Aiko looked at the stretch of doors before her, heaving yet another sigh. Squaring her shoulders, she pulled open the nearest door and peered inside.

* * *

Haji shot down the length of the stark white corridor, his long legs propelling him forward easily as he strained his keen senses to their limits. Even at this late hour people were arriving and leaving: his ears caught the dull grinding of a coffee machine, the hushed murmur of many phone conversations, as well as the clicking of computer keys. There was nothing to suggest that Saya was nearby, though.

The Chevalier closed his eyes to half-mast, allowing his feet to remember the path they had traced earlier, when Aika was inside. Darting along near soundlessly he was ever alert for the telltale click of a footfall or the swish of fabric, but for once he was in luck, and his search went uninterrupted.

Once he was sure he'd travelled far enough Haji slowed to a walk, taking the time now to study each door. He was close; he could feel it in his heart, the same way he had when Solomon had taken her all those years ago. Being only a Chevalier, he did not share such an intense connection to Saya as the twins did, but if he was close enough he could feel her spirit nudging against his mind. Saya was here somewhere.

The Chevalier paused, stiffening, his burning eyes roaming carefully. He'd heard something. Something that was soft and low; a whisper on the edge of hearing. He glanced up and down the length of the corridor before daring to whisper: "Saya?"

There was no mistaking it this time – there had been a rustle of fabric and a weak rasp of breath from just up ahead. Haji strode purposefully forward, his eyes bright and relief softening the lines of his face. "Saya," he called again, a little louder this time.

"Haji."

His eyes fell on a particular door, and after a moment of awkward scrabbling he managed to draw back the slot in the heavy metal and peer inside.

Saya was sitting there, smiling tiredly at him. "Haji," she whispered, and a single tear streaked down her pale and pinched cheek. "I knew you'd come," she said breathlessly. "I knew it, I knew it."

The Chiropteran stumbled to her feet. She was cold and hot and her face was burning and there was a dogged ache in her arms and legs, a numbness that was both painful and exhausting. She began to walk toward the fuzzy image of her saviour, her small smile never faltering even when her eyes spilled with hot tears. Her legs staggered and she stumbled forward, a few wayward steps of forced running before her return to a slow, malnourished walk. Her eyes were the colour of agony, and weightless as she was, she was too heavy for her legs to carry. She fell to her knees, and sat there for a moment, dazed and feverish. "Haji…"

The Chevalier needed no more invitation. Forcing his useless fingers to comply he somehow managed to wrench the door off its very hinges, setting it against the wall before rushing into the cell and dropping to his knees before her. His heart almost broke at the feel of Saya's fingers weakly gripping his coat, her pitiful murmurs of his name coupled with the dampness of her tears telling him just how trying this past week had been for her. "Saya," he murmured into her hair. "We must leave now, there is little time."

"Time?" she said weakly. What was she meant to be doing again? There was something that she'd wanted to do… She shook her head. Everything around her was indistinct, a sickening swirl of colours that pulsed and writhed before her glassy red eyes. Her skin felt as though it were on fire, pulsing agony flooding her limbs and sinking icy teeth into the tender vulnerability of bone, twisting muscle and severing nerves. Saya trembled, curling in on herself with a low moan and folding her twitching arms against her torso, turning her face to bury it in Haji's chest. It hurt so bad.

Icy hands stroked her sweat-soaked cheek and Saya gave a shrill shriek of surprise, jerking away. She blinked and squinted, struggling to focus on the blurred form before her, to no avail. "Who-" She shuddered, her breathless question lost to the chattering of her teeth. The figure leaned forward and icy fingers cupped her face, soothing the pain that pulsed in her brain and wiping stinging sweat from her crimson-shot eyes. She moaned and leant into the chill, groaning in protest when the pressure left her cheeks to wrap around her shoulders and slide beneath her knees. She was lifted carefully from the floor, the figure taking great care not to jolt her as her head lolled to the side. Her eyes opened blearily when a familiar scent within the soft fabric she rested her cheek against reached her. She smiled tiredly. _Leather and tree sap and faintly of peppermint. _The figure holding her smelt so simular to Haji it was uncanny…

Saya blinked slowly as her tired brain drew the connections. Right. Well, if this was Haji…

"What was I going to do again?" she murmured aloud. "There was something I wanted to do…"

"Saya?" said Haji softly, and even in her delirium she easily picked up on his concern. "Are you well?"

"What? I can't hear you well," Saya murmured, trying to read his lips. Her eyes widened. "Oh!" She shrank back, wincing at the volume of her own cry. "Oh," she repeated, softer this time. "I remember now what I was going to do."

That said she raised one shaking hand to grip Haji's chin, pulling his face down until their lips met in a kiss. She drew away after a brief moment, trembling badly, her eyes glazed and dull. "I remember now," she said softly, and promptly fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

(1) If anyone's interested, a forensic entomologist's job is to look at insects in relation to a crime, especially in a post-mortem. You might, for example, be able to find information in a murder case by observing whether there are any insect eggs in the deceased – if there are, the type of insect and the maturity of the egg will give a picture of both the location of the murder and an approximate time of death… Lovely, I know.

A.N. Quick note, I nicked the retina cam idea as well as the camera loop thingo from the novel Artemis Fowl. Excellent book. Oh, and I understand that some of you are getting bored with the lack of action... Well, I'll tell you know that there's plenty of action to come, our favourite couple aren't out of the woods yet, not by a long-shot. Okay, now for quotey goodness...

Quote of the day:

_Haikus are easy_

_But sometimes they don't make sense_

_Refrigerator_

Lol, that quote was brought to you by** toothpick99**. It cracked me up. XD Keep sending them in, please!


	12. Chapter 12

A.N. Update! I know it's been a long time, but for some unfathomable reason I assumed that my work load would be the same this year as it was last year. This means that I thought nothing of committing myself to music five times a week, going to tutor, getting a part time job and also helping out at home now that Mum's working again on top of all my school work... -headdesks violently- Yes, I'm an idiot. Easter long weekend is the only chance I've had to sit down and write. Anyway, enough of my bitching, here's chapter 12!

* * *

Fear tasted sour.

Aiko tried to swallow the lump in her throat but it would not budge, and her sweater suddenly seemed too tight about her breathlessness. She felt shrivelled with dread, sick with it.

Where were those three men?! The Chiropteran girl had been searching for several long minutes now, inspecting every room along the stretch of corridor. But she had nothing to show for all her trouble (except for a handy baton that she'd found lying on a desk and 'borrowed' for the reassurance); and the longer she took, the higher the chance that the three _blasted _humans would find the loop, even _override _the loop, discover Haji's presence, discover Saya's escape, and the whole situation was turning into porridge before her eyes… Despite the winter chill that radiated off of the stark corridor walls, Aiko's flushed cheeks were beaded with cold sweat; and the very real danger of someone happening to catch to her snooping was not helping soothe her already dangerously frayed nerves.

_It's all right, Aiko, _came her sister's voice through the speaker. Julia had gone to assist Kunio and Lewis with the computers hidden out of sight in the back of the van, so Aika had been left to calm her sibling as best she could. _Everything will be fine, it's not like you're facing down a horde of Chiropteran. Just keep walking._

"I can't," Aiko said helplessly, trembling hands folding over her face. She hunched her shoulders, bowing under the pressure and stress of being depended upon for such an overwhelming task. She was as pale as a corpse, shaking like a leaf in a high wind, teeth rattling in her shivering jaw. "Oh Aika, I can't do this all alone!" She was babbling but she couldn't stop, her phrases beginning to slur and her sentences becoming disjointed, disfigured and confused as her terror mounted. "Chiropteran will be exposed," she cried helplessly, "and Saya and Haji and you and me, too, will be locked away… And it will be all my fault for not being able to find those three blasted men!" Her eyes darted wildly, the orbs framed by her white-knuckled fingers. Her breath caught in her throat as the full weight of the situation pressed against her mind, and she sunk helplessly against the wall. She was too late, she could feel it, Saya and Aika and everyone would be taken and experimented on, and it would be _all her fault…_

_Pull yourself together, _said Aika sharply, taken aback by the intensity of her sister's terror. Then again, Aiko had never been one who responded well to stress. And since she'd never been in such a demanding position before, perhaps it wasn't so surprising after all that she was feeling overwhelmed… But what if that wasn't it? Aika paused for a moment, and when she next spoke her voice had a strange edge to it. _Aiko? Is it unsafe in there? I thought you'd be fine with just a few humans, but if they look dangerous…_

"No, it's nothing like that," Aiko sighed, her sibling's tenseness passing right over her head. "I-I just have to remember that this is all for Saya…"

_Are you sure that no one will harm you? _said Aika, and her voice was strained and pitched low.

"It's all for Saya," Aiko repeated softly, ignoring her sister as she calmed herself with the mantra. She swallowed again, and though the lump that pressed against the roof of her mouth didn't disappear, the action settled her slightly. She allowed her hands to fall to her side, and nodded. "For Saya."

Her purpose (and the comforting weight of the baton tucked inside her sweater) lending her strength, Aiko pulled open the nearest door, her heart thundering. Empty. She moved on.

Empty.

Empty.

Empty.

…Locked.

"This room's locked, Aika," Aiko murmured, peering suspiciously at the bolted door.

_Can you hear anyone inside? Are the guys in there, or has someone just locked up for the night?_ Aiko could take care of a few humans, after all. Aika shook her head, her eyes dulling back to their usual soft blue and her canines slipping back between her lips. She was being ridiculous.

Aiko pressed her ear obediently to the set of double doors, and was rewarded with the soft clacking of computer keys. She drew a startled breath. "I think this is the one!" she hissed.

_Good job, Aiko. Open it and see what's going on._

"But it's locked!"

_You're a Chiropteran, aren't you? Your blood isn't only good for opening stubborn jars for Kai. Open it._

Feeling foolish, Aiko dutifully grabbed the door's handle. With a quick, and thankfully quiet, twist, she snapped the bolt so that the door on the left swung open a crack. Peering inside, she had to stifle a gasp when her eyes were met with the sight of the three human men standing in the unlit room. The only light came from countless glowing computer monitors, the many screens banked on top of one another in long, wall-to-wall rows. Each flickering screen showed a different area within the building, and Aiko breathed a hushed sigh of relief when she noticed Saya sitting desolately on her bed in one of the many panels. Thank goodness for small mercies; the loop obviously hadn't been overridden. That, or Haji hadn't yet arrived… but, she preferred to believe the former.

The one Aiko had previously been told was called 'Kenta' was tapping away at a large keyboard, his forehead creased in a frown and his eyes worried. Behind him, Hojo watched the computer screen unblinkingly, while Yusuke stood off to the side. The younger man had a strange gleam in his eyes, the hard brown irises looking orange in the glow emanating from the cigarette dangling between his lips. Aiko couldn't help but notice that he seemed fatigued: he had bags beneath his eyes, and stubble peppered his chin and cheeks. She felt a brief pang of sympathy when she remembered that he had been the one that Haji had attacked – perhaps it wasn't so surprising that he was having trouble sleeping at night.

A half-full bottle of whiskey sat on the table between the three of them, and as she watched Yusuke removed his cigarette to take a long draught.

"I can't trace the hacker," said Kenta after a short pause, "but it's clear that something's gotten into the computer. I'll have to reboot the lot to get rid of the loop and any other outside corruptions."

The exhaustion faded from Yusuke's eyes to be replaced with growing horror, while Hojo grit his teeth and slapped his palm against the table with a bang. "That'll take at least twenty minutes!" the irate Sergeant barked. "There isn't anything else we—?"

"Don't you think I'd be doing it if there was?" Kenta snapped, his frustration and worry making him uncharacteristically irritable. "Believe me boys, I'm as concerned about this as you. This is a very serious situation; someone obviously doesn't want me to see evidence that your Saya girl might be a vampire. As crazy as this whole thing sounds, I'm beginning to think… Hell, I don't even know what I think." He sighed, running a distracted hand through his hair. "The technology of the hacker is very sophisticated, and it would take even longer to manually override the corruptions," the Chief Detective explained with forced patience. "There are files all over the place. Anyway, while it's rebooting I'll call some people to check on all those in containment and have them stand guard until the system is back on line, and also seal off the foyer exit… It's the only option I can see."

Hojo sighed, but grudgingly nodded his agreement. Yusuke looking incensed, but wisely (if reluctantly) backed down when his superiors gave him a warning glance. Still, his eyes glowed with barely concealed animosity, and Aiko was reminded that perhaps fear was not the only emotion he felt for his attackers… She swallowed weakly, fighting the sudden pain in her stomach that sent a wave of nausea up her gullet. Now wasn't the time to lose her cool.

…But, what could she do?

"Aika?" the Chiropteran girl whispered, and her voice was so soft that she could barely hear her own words. She tensed expectantly as she awaited her orders, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on Kenta as he reached out for the telephone. "Aika?"

_Shit, _Aika cursed over the speaker, she and her sister both falling silent when Yusuke – who was closest to the door – tensed and looked about suspiciously. Aiko hurriedly pulled the door closed so that not even the barest sliver of outside light could betray her presence, but she still kept her eyes fixed on the spot where, on the other side of the wood, she could hear Kenta beginning to punch in a number on the phone.

"Aika!" Aiko hissed with growing desperation.

And then the lights snapped out.

* * *

Hojo took a swig from the half-full whiskey bottle, the silken burn of the liquor as it flooded his chest with warmth a welcome distraction from his frustration. The bottle had already been there, sloppily hidden inside a drawer, when the three had arrived and booted out the guards, giving some excuse that he couldn't even remember now. As tense as they were, no one had objected when Yusuke had claimed it for himself.

"Alright," Kenta breathed, and began dialling a number on the telephone. He cradled the phone between his ear and his shoulder, leaving his hands free to work on rebooting the computers. He had just moved to make the final adjustments when the lights turned off with a hollow _bang. _The red light on the phone vanished and the computer screens all darkened, leaving the room in pitch black.

There was instant chaos. Kenta jumped from his chair as though he'd been electrocuted, while Yusuke began flailing his arms, struggling to find some familiar piece of furniture to anchor him in the sea of blackness. Meanwhile, Hojo had begun calling for the others, taking a few cautious steps toward where he thought they were. After only a few steps he found himself blindly stumbling backward when a warm body crashed into his chest. Reflexively catching them about the shoulders, he cursed when he dropped the whiskey bottle that he hadn't realised he was still holding so that it shattered somewhere by his foot. Staggering forward and tripping over what might have been wires the Sergeant tumbled face first to the ground, bringing the body he clutched about the shoulders with him.

"Hojo, Kenta, where are you?" Yusuke called, but Hojo was preoccupied trying to figure out who it was that he had landed on. Darkness had ensconced the room in its shroud, and the deep shadows that stained the room could be hiding any number of opponents. With that alarming thought in the forefront of his mind, he was greatly relieved when his blindly searching fingers recognised the form of his superior, glad that he wouldn't have to fight off enemies in the dark.

"Are you alright, sir?" said Hojo.

"Where are you both?" Yusuke called into the darkness. "And what the hell just happened?"

"Can you stand?" Hojo asked tentatively, ignoring Yusuke for the moment and groping blindly until he found Kenta's hand. The Sergeant frowned worriedly into the darkness when he did grasp the appendage – it hung unnaturally limp in his hold.

"You guys?!" Yusuke called out, sounding a little angry now.

"Just stay where you are, Yusuke," Hojo said. To his relief, his eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness that he was able to distinguish between the different shades of black, and he could also make out a tiny point of orange nestled deep in the shadows. "We can see where you are by the light of your cigarette… Say, do you have any more matches?"

There was a brief silence, and then the sound of rustling before a light flared into existence. Yusuke's face flickered into view, his skin bathed yellow where the feeble light landed and his eyes burning gold. Sighing in relief, Hojo made to grab Kenta's hand again, but hissed a curse when he noticed why the appendage had hung so lifelessly.

"Yusuke, bring the light over here!" Hojo barked. "Kenta's been hurt, I think he hit his head when he landed."

Yusuke muttered something crude under his breath but still hurried over, shielding the feeble flame with his hand so that it wouldn't go out. Hojo struggled to push his groaning boss into a sitting position, wincing at the small amount of blood that oozed from Kenta's hairline to slick his hands. "He's regaining consciousness," the sergeant breathed, straining to support his superior.

"Huh?" said Kenta thickly, blinking slowly past the white spots that were fast filling the darkness of his vision. He thought he heard someone say something, but the ringing in his ears had drowned it out. He vaguely felt cool hands press against his bruised skull, and had to bite back a spasm of nausea.

"What happened?" said Yusuke lowly, striking another match when the one he was holding threatened to burn his fingers. He cast a worried eye over the dim figure that lay sprawled before him, unable to assess the damage in such poor light. "Is the Chief…?"

"I'm fine," said Kenta slowly. "Just a little woozy." He slowly raised his torso from the ground, resting all his weight on his elbows while Hojo hovered anxiously over him. His dizziness was slowly dissipating, but he had a throbbing headache and his limbs felt like rubber.

"It was no coincidence that the electricity blew just when the Chief was calling for reinforcements," Hojo hissed angrily, propping Kenta against himself as he worriedly assessed his boss's condition as best he could. "Yusuke, go and raise the alarm! Get some ice and torches if you can, while I try to take care of this…"

"Right," said Yusuke, and after handing Hojo a match and striking a fresh one for himself, he jogged over to the door. Flinging it open, he was shocked into stillness when he almost tripped over a young girl who sat crouched outside, blocking his way.

"Get back inside," she said softly.

Yusuke mutely shook his head, eying her warily as he prepared to dart past her to the exit.

"Inside," she insisted, tapered fingers pushing long strands of dark hair from her pale features. From what little he could make out she was a pretty girl, with eyes that glowed almost pink in the soft light of the flame that danced from between his fingers. Her eyes not leaving his she pressed one hand to her ear, then after a pause nodded slowly. The fingers of her other hand were curled around the handle of a baton, whose polished surface gleamed menacingly. "M-my sister says to tell you that the situation is beyond your authority, and to get back inside, right now."

There was silence for a moment as Yusuke stood indecisively, his eyes continuously flickering from the direction of the exit to the girl's baton. The impulsive but determined young man was just preparing to knock the girl down and make his escape, when he happened to glance into her eyes.

His heart skipped and his blood froze and his mind went cold. Her eyes were wide and frightened and somewhat unsure, but that wasn't the point. The point was the almost palpable wave of _power_ that was buried deep under all her human insecurities. This woman, this _girl_, was a predator in blood and bone and mind and soul, and the feral wildness that was buried deep in her gaze was similar enough to the eyes of a certain Chevalier that Yusuke lowered his gaze and – albeit with his fists clenched almost hard enough to draw blood and his heart trembling – went back inside.

"What are you doing?" said Hojo incredulously, turning toward the scuffing of Yusuke's shoes and squinting short-sightedly through the darkness. "The boss needs medical attention, now!"

"There's a girl there," said Yusuke darkly, gesturing with a sharp jab of a thumb over his shoulder to where Aiko stood in the doorway. In a moment of inspiration, she was busying herself with twisting the baton through the twin door handles in such a way that human hands couldn't open the entrance. She seemed so collected now – the only evidence that she had ever suffered a breakdown at all was in the light trembling of her hands and in the thundering of her heart, but she forcefully quashed the symptoms. She was determined not to fail.

"She's forbidding any of us from leaving the room," Yusuke continued. "I think she and her people got into our computers, and also cut the power lines."

"What?!"

"It's true," the girl said nervously, turning around to face them once she was satisfied that nobody could escape. She may have snapped the bolt previously, but the handles themselves were still usable. "I've been ordered to keep you here, for… for as long as it takes. My companions have turned off all electricity, so you have no chance of leaving the area and telling people what you know." She shifted her weight to her opposite foot. "I-I can do First Aid on that man," she added hesitantly, taking a step toward the threesome.

Yusuke took an uneasy step backward, his heart trembling for reasons the logical part of his mind couldn't fathom. "Don't come any closer!" he warned, keeping a keen eye on the nervous young girl. Just then, the flame licked at his fingers and spluttered out, so, with a spray of cursing, Yusuke fumbled in the darkness, trying to light a new one.

"I-I'm sorry about all this," said Aiko meekly, her soft features flaring back into view as a fresh match caught. "But we really had no choice."

"No choice?" said Hojo bitterly. Kenta seemed to be fine now, if a little pale, so at his insistence Hojo helped him to his feet before retreating to a respectful distance.

"No choice," Aiko said firmly. "You would have done horrible things to Saya – she would have been taken away and experimented on. She was just living her life like anyone else before you came along. Just being a normal girl. And you would have locked her away in prison when her actions were beyond her control!" The Chiropteran girl looked from face to face beseechingly, pleading with the three men to understand her friend's position. "Saya isn't evil," she insisted.

"She killed people, and her boyfriend almost killed me," Yusuke said hotly. He struck another match.

"She's a wonderful person," Aiko cried, and to her dismay she felt hot tears welling in her eyes. "What she did wasn't her fault! It's been killing her inside, we need her back with us so that we can help her and protect her…"

Hojo walked up to the door, his eyes stretched wide to compensate for the thickness of the shadows. He tugged on the baton that had been twisted through the two door handles experimentally, but wasn't really that surprised when the metal refused to yield. "Tell us everything," he said tiredly. "Please just let us know, what is going on? What is Saya?"

Aiko was silent for a moment, then shrugged, dashing away a stray tear that had slid down her cheek. "Aika says I can, so okay. What will you do with the information, after all?" She began to speak, telling them the highlights of the adventures of the Red Shield.

"That's quite a story," said Hojo as soon as Aiko quietened. He gave a tired smirk. "But at this point I think I've given up on being surprised, since there seems little point anymore. So Saya was the one who took care of 'that business' thirty years ago. I'd wondered…"

"Mm, this does complicate things," Kenta said, nodding as emphatically as his headache would allow. "Still…"

"You should just leave the situation alone," said Aiko quietly.

Yusuke's expression at this was demonic, his features twisting into a mask of rage born of growing fright. "What did you say?" he asked with cold fury, his words ground out from between clenched teeth. "She and her 'boyfriend' almost killed me, girl. You can't tell me that we should just let them walk after that."

Aiko flinched back in face of Yusuke's rage, her eyes downcast as she nibbled her lip. "You should," she said softly, but with conviction. "I told you before, the situation is beyond your control. Chiropteran exist, and have existed for many, many years. They have just as much right to live as humans do. Saya…" Aiko sighed, her gaze becoming distant. "Saya has been through hard times before," she said solemnly, thinking of the strange sheen to David's eyes when he told her about what Saya had done in Vietnam, "but she's strong, and has always been able to leave her mistakes and trauma in the past and move on from it, and grow alongside everyone else who suffered with her. What she did is killing her inside; she needs us to help her move past it like she has before… But besides that," here she turned a beseeching gaze to Kenta, "rather than killing her, don't you think that it would be best to have Saya stay with people who can control her urges? Chiropteran aren't a species that you want to make your enemy, and I can guarantee that after today, there will be no more deaths at the hands of a Chiropteran."

Hojo bit his lip indecisively. What to do, what to do… Aiko made such valid points, but at the same time he couldn't help but remember the demonic glow of Saya's eyes as she threatened to eat him… He blinked. No, now that he thought about it, that hadn't been a threat. It had been a warning. She'd wanted him to leave so that she wouldn't hurt him. She'd become sickly and weak and wracked with pain due to her abstinence, she'd suffered terribly, and it wasn't as though he'd made things any easier for her. The more he thought, the more he remembered how pained she'd looked that first day, how empty her gaze had been, how wracked with guilt. How human her eyes were when she smiled…

And Saya _had_ once saved humanity…

And any wounds, however gruesome, that she inflicted on those boys _had_ been in self-defence, if what the girl standing before him said was true…

Hojo lowered his eyes. While he couldn't condone what she'd done to those boys, he couldn't help the pang of sympathy that sparked within him.

Yusuke looked as best he could from face to face, his anger growing as he saw his comrades' weakening resolve. "What if she isn't telling the truth?" he snarled, both his fury at having been denied his revenge and his mounting terror at the thought of Chiropteran being allowed to run free making his eyes glow with strange light. He jabbed an accusing finger in Aiko's direction. "How the hell could she know all this anyway?" he spat. "She's only a girl, she's probably making all this up on the spot! We could be dealing with inhuman terrorists and mass murderers, and here you two are, sitting here, lapping up her fairy-story like it's the truth!"

"Of course it's truth," said Aiko coldly, glaring at Yusuke through a thin sheen of bitter tears. "I know what happened because I was there for quite a bit of it. Don't kid yourself with your ideas of good and evil; Saya's just another girl living her life according to her own devices. So what that she's a Chiropteran? Can you call those that shoot guns and start wars human?" By now the last traces of tears had vanished, and the young girl straightened her back and looked Yusuke squarely in the eye. "I know what kind of person Saya really is," Aiko said passionately, "and I know what she's going through. We're the same blood, after all. I'm Saya's niece."

Yusuke's retort died on his lips, his face slackening and his eyes stretching wide in response to the unexpected statement.

There was a long, shocked silence.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious Aiko glanced from stunned face to stunned face, her nerves mounting. "Er, that is-" she stammered, but petered off when she could think of nothing else to say. The air was thick with growing tension.

"Saya's niece," Yusuke said slowly, carefully, as though making sure he hadn't misheard. "As in… You're the same… _thing_ as she is?" His eyes flickered to the shadows where she had forced a baton through the doorhandles, and his hands began to tremble.

"I'm a Chiropteran, yes," said Aiko quietly. "But please don't try anything. I'm doing my best to protect you, and I don't want to have to hurt you because of your prejudices."

But Yusuke wasn't paying any attention to Aiko's soft words. "You… You're just like _her_! And _him_!" His pupils dilated further in the cloying darkness. It was one thing to stand safe and surrounded by allies in a room and talk of revenge, but quite another to talk of it with the monster looming right before you, staining the room's corners an even darker shade of black. The shadows seemed to bend.

"Please don't get worked up," said Aiko nervously, her eyes fluttering worriedly to the still pale and shaky Kenta. "None of us are out to hurt you, I promise y—"

"You're a monster!" Yusuke burst out, and Aiko recoiled as though she'd been struck. Panic painted the young man's face stark, and he lost all his former bravado as the room seemed to shrink and condense until it was just him and her and the memory of eyes that burned with the same inner fire, a twisted hand and lengthened teeth and the aura of an ancient predator… Yusuke lost his breath and began to panic, not doubting for a moment that the deceptively young-looking girl before him was capable of carrying out all of the Chevalier's unspoken threats, and more. Fear, raw and pure, drove his muscles into knots and he broke.

Hysterical with terror Yusuke leapt at the door, his helpless fingers scrabbling themselves bloody as they tore at the baton wedged there. Releasing the match he still gripped the room was momentarily plunged into darkness, before flames leapt high into the air as the alcohol that lay spilt on the floor fuelled the feeble flame into a blaze. Greedy tongues of fire rushed along the path the alcohol had left on the floor, scorching the roof and searing the walls black, snarling, gobbling and spitting stinking clouds of smoke.

Desperation lending him strength, Yusuke managed to ignore the heat and also the pain in his arm as the tendons strained and snapped as the baton was wrenched away, and then he was flying down the dark walls with a wail of terror. Greedy for oxygen the flames leapt at the ceiling with a triumphant roar, flooding the room with stifling heat.

"Yusuke!" Kenta called, alarmed, and made to run after him, only to collapse when his legs gave out. "Yusuke!"

"Oh shit," Hojo gasped, and began struggling to beat out the flames. He pulled off his jacket and also grabbed Kenta's, throwing the material onto the floor and pressing down on it. His eyes were burned of moisture and the skin of his hands blistered painfully as the alcohol stained garments refused to smother the flames, and after a few moments he gave up in favour of wrapping Kenta's arm about his shoulder and pulling his weakened superior to his feet. Frantic now and gasping for air in the smoky room, he whipped around to face Aiko, who was staring, open-mouthed and motionless, at the orange flames. "We need to leave now!" Hojo screamed over the roar of the fire. "We have to get out of here or we'll burn!"

"Go ahead!" Aiko yelled, gathering her scrambled wits as her eyes cleared and hardened. "I'll… I'll stay and put out the fire, you just make sure that your boss makes it to safety! And keep Yusuke from doing anything stupid!"

Hojo opened his mouth to protest, but Aiko shoved him back violently, out of reach of the greedy flames that had been advancing on his prone form. "Get moving!"

"I can't just leave you!" Hojo called desperately, but even while he spoke he was pulling Kenta toward the door. "Come on!"

Aiko gazed at him wonderingly, her eyes reflecting the flames. "You're a good guy, you know that?" she said sincerely, then shook her head. "Don't worry," she said firmly, and even managed a tight smile. "Fire doesn't hurt me. I'm a Chiropteran."

Hojo studied her for a few moments, bit his lip, then muttered a brief 'Don't you dare burn to death, girl,' before disappearing out the door and jogging away as speedily as he could with the still disorientated Kenta draped limply against his side. Aiko looked after him with a soft smile, before her eyes hardened once again and she turned to face the raging inferno.

_What the hell are you doing?! _Aika screamed, but Aiko removed the speaker from her ear and flung it into the blaze, doing the same with the camera in her eye.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She wasn't sure who she was apologising to. Maybe to Hojo, for lying about fire not hurting a Chiropteran. Maybe to Aika and Kai and everyone else who'd miss her if her stupid plan went wrong. "I'm sorry… But I need to do this. For Saya. For Haji. For sister and me. For everyone."

Aika's frantic curses were devoured by the roar of flames.

* * *

She was sinking through spinning blackness. Consciousness had died, and cold oblivion was pulling her down, down into a void of unbeing. Silence echoed about her and she was engulfed.

After what felt like a lifetime she was roused, her limbs shaking violently with cold spasms, lights dancing sickeningly before her as the coldness tipped and spun. And then there was _light_ and _hunger_ and _feeling_, and her slender arms folded around the sensation, embracing it as it flooded her with life.

She easily broke through the surface of soft skin, felt the instant rush of sweet lifeblood fill her mouth and consume her senses. Blinded by blood, overtaken by the power of her thirst, she tightened her hold on the figure that had gently pressed her face to the crook of its neck where the artery throbbed. Bursts of white dotted the darkness, coloured the backs of her lids in a spectrum of bright lights.

The hunger that burned through her flooded her with tremors as her teeth sank into flesh and her lips closed eagerly around the fluid that spilled forth, and she growled her satisfaction as the insanity and exhaustion melted into raw strength. Her eyes widened...

What... Diva was there... Riku... death... pure, unadulterated agony, and so much grief... Diva...

Very slowly, Saya lifted her mouth from Haji's neck, lapping absently at the dribble of blood that escaped the small wound. Diva had... So, that was why she and her sister had fought, why Diva had to die... Saya's eyes clouded with tears but she shook them away, managing to give her Chevalier a tired smile, which he returned.

"Are you well?" Haji inquired softly, pulling her long black hair from where it stuck to the liquid that painted her lips crimson, and tucking it behind her ears.

"Much better," Saya said, and she meant it. "But why are you here, when…" Saya trailed off, but her pointed glance at her blood spattered hands where her feeding had gotten a little messy said more than enough.

Haji said nothing, merely scooping her up and heading toward the exit. "We will deal with such things as they come," was all he said in response to her incredulous look. "I will not leave you alone here."

Saya sighed, accepting his logic. While she wouldn't consider herself 'well-fed' at least with something in her belly she could better fight her 'urges', and she really didn't want to be left alone. All the same, she was careful not to meet his eyes, just in case. She could last long enough to get home, and then after a decent feed she planned on having a very long, very serious conversation with everyone…

After only a few moments of walking, however, Haji tensed.

Saya grew uneasy when Haji paused in mid-stride. "What is it? Why have we stopped?"

"Someone approaches," said Haji quietly, and Saya felt smooth bands of ropy muscle roll and coil underneath his coat as he settled fluidly and almost unconsciously into a defensive stance.

Saya listened hard, and after a while realised that she too could hear some kind of stomping throb, the noise echoing around the corridor from an indeterminable distance. Listening the drumming of disembodied feet spooked her a little, and despite her previous concerns she found herself pressing closer into Haji. The Chevalier pulled her closer against his warmth, and her wide eyes automatically darted up to meet his own.

"Do not concern yourself," he reassured her, "humans cannot see in so little light, we will not be noticed." Saya only nodded faintly, inwardly cursing herself as she nibbled on the inside of her lip in at attempt at retaining some measure of sanity. The pair waited in tense silence for the figure to approach.

Yusuke's feet pounded up the corridor, his harsh breathing the only sound aside from the rapidly fading crackling of fire and the cries of his companions. Delirious with terror, the panicked man never even noticed when the battery-operated fire alarms began to resound, nor did he realise when he passed the two figures standing in the darkness. The only thing that paused his mad charge was when he blindly crashed into a wall in such away that his damaged arm was further twisted. Yelping in pain Yusuke tumbled to the ground but scrambled to his feet not a moment later, once again racing in a wild frenzy along the length of corridor. Further panicked when he realised that he could hear someone following him, whispering in his ear, he was sure, but he couldn't hear the words, he increased his already frantic pace. The cold, the dark, and the memory of glowing eyes were getting to him badly.

Sprinting forward through the thick shadows with his adrenalin racing and his blood singing, Yusuke was taken completely by surprise when he smashed headlong into several hard somethings that stood concealed by the darkness. Screaming in pain as his arm was crushed beneath his weight, Yusuke madly fought to his feet and staggered onward.

"Who the hell was that?" a voice yelled angrily.

"What's going on here?"

Yusuke ploughed headlong into a door and pressed himself into it, hissing as he scrabbled madly at it.

"Who is it?"

"Yusuke? Is that you?"

"Let me out," Yusuke wailed. His fingers smeared thick lines of blood down the door's surface, and he whimpered in fear. He wrenched at the hinges, beat at the glass, hammered, called his wild accusations in choking shrieks, but all to no avail. "She's the same! She tried to hide, but she's the same! Same blood! Same eyes!"

Strong hands pulled him away, but Yusuke panicked and kicked and struggled and screamed until he was released. "Shit, Yusuke," someone yelled. "Settle down, mate, just sit down and breathe for a while. You aren't going anywhere, none of us are. We need a password to get through here, but since the electricity's off and we can't see beyond our own noses we're stuck… Now what's going on with you?"

"Their eyes!" Yusuke screamed, sobbing hysterically as he tore at the inches thick glass that made up the impenetrable door. "The same eyes! Let me out!"

None of the assembled policemen and various forensic workers could make sense of his rambles, nor could they settle him long enough to leave the door alone. His fingers had long since been torn bloody, and he'd managed to grievously wound the arm that he had previously strained in his disorientation. He sobbed and guttered like a child, moaning and clawing helplessly at the glass, never even noticing when a figure loomed over his shoulder… All he felt was a sharp pain in his neck, and then Yusuke slumped forward in a dead faint.

The surrounding people were worried when Yusuke's cries stopped so suddenly. "Yusuke?" someone called tentatively. Saya turned accusing eyes on Haji, who had just unceremoniously dropped the unconscious man to the floor after giving the nerve in his neck a sharp pinch. The Chevalier had the grace to shrug apologetically, but even in the thick shadows Saya could see that he was unashamed. Rolling her eyes she admitted the wisdom of the action, but still. He could have been a little more subtle.

"What's going on?" came a sharp voice from behind them, and turning Saya was surprised to see Hojo standing there, panting lightly and struggling to support a man that she had never seen before who was leaning heavily against the Sergeant. "Why am I hearing so many voices? I thought I told you all to leave, there's a fire, dammit!"

Saya gasped, and flaring her nostrils she was horrified to realise that she could indeed smell the heady tang of smoke drifting on the air. Sickened, she turned helplessly to Haji, who had once again tensed up.

Saya bit her lip. She was still trembling badly, her blood smoking and her beast drooling at the presence of both Haji and a supply of blind, helpless prey. She needed to get everyone out, because she'd made a promise to herself, and she didn't think she could live if she had any more lives on her conscience...

There was only one thing she could think of doing.

"Alright," Saya said aloud, wincing a little when Hojo jumped and stared wildly into the darkness at recognising her voice. "I want everyone to stand back, alright? I have with me…" Saya paused, her brain whirring "…a sledgehammer."

There was a brief silence, which after a pause was broken by someone muttering, "Why is she randomly carrying around a sledgehammer?"

"I happen to _like_ carrying sledgehammers around, thank you very much," Saya snapped, her cheeks colouring. "You never know when they'll come in handy."

"What, you keep a sledgehammer handy in your back pocket, do you?" said the voice snidely.

"No! No, no… I… keep in my _front_ pocket, of course."

Haji only barely restrained himself from bashing his head into the wall.

"Anyway," Saya continued, composing herself, "with this sledgehammer that I just so happened to be carrying around in my front pocket, I am going to break through the door so that everyone can get out already, and away from the fire. Ready?" She waited for everyone to shuffle back, her fingers curling into a fist. "Okay!"

Winding back her arm Saya easily punched her way through the door, feeling a vague elation despite the seriousness of the situation that she was _saving_ lives this time around...

Perhaps it would be all right after all.

* * *

Aiko bit her lip, her wide eyes glowing crimson in the firelight.

The fire would never spread from here, though the humans had been too panicked and disorientated to notice. The walls were concrete, after all; and though the flames were thriving on the large square of alcohol-stained shag rug for the moment, there would be nothing to burn when the heat had evaporated the last of the moisture and the rug burnt away. But watching how the greedy flames had gobbled up everything so quickly and thoroughly… Aiko hardened her resolve. What sort of friend would she be if she didn't take this chance to make everything right?

Forcing back a sob Aiko picked up both Hojo and Kenta's jackets, wiping a stray sooty tear away on her forearm before running out the door, clutching the charred material close against her torso. She raced up the corridor away from the exit, filtering the smoke from the air that entered her lungs with a strip of fabric torn from Hojo's jacket that she knotted about her face.

The battery operated fire alarms blared piercingly throughout the area, and beneath the noise of the fire she could hear Hojo screaming for everyone to leave the building that hadn't already. She blinked back a fresh wave of tears, smiling through her mounting terror. Good. She didn't need a broken promise on her conscience on top of everything else.

_I can guarantee that after today, there will be no more deaths at the hands of a Chiropteran…_

Speeding through the corridor at an unnaturally fast pace, it was only a few moments later that she found herself at the massive garage she knew was at far end of the establishment, where the police cars were kept when not in use. Scanning the warehouse-like interior with her enhanced eyesight, it didn't take long for the Chiropteran to discover where the jerry cans brimming with emergency petrol were kept, stacked one on top of the other inside a fireproof metal cabinet. Her inhuman strength made short work of the locker, and dragging one of the large steel containers in each hand she unscrewed their lids, slopping the pungent black liquid all over the ground.

_For Saya._

She ran from one end of the corridor to the other, covering all that she could with the oily slick. When she came to the hefty doors that demanded a password to get through she simply punched her way through the thick glass, ignoring the blood that streamed from her knuckles at the violent action.

_For Haji._

She soaked every room she could, paying special attention to those that she found to hold evidence that could incriminate Saya. Tears rolled down her face but still she worked, and though her hands were trembling violently and her legs were so weak she feared she'd collapse, still she sloshed the oily liquid up the walls. She took a deep breath, coughing violently as she inhaled the heady fumes.

_For sister and me._

She almost tenderly held the two jackets to her face, and lightly blew on a strip that still glowed orange with heat. She was sobbing openly now. "I'm sorry, everyone," she whimpered aloud. "But I can't… I can't… I have to…" she broke off with a strangled cry. "I don't want to," she whispered. "But…" She closed her frightened eyes, and tears carved a path down her cheeks.

_For everyone…_

The smoking fabric fluttered from between her fingers.

* * *

A.N. Well, I hope that makes up for the late update. I've had a couple of comments about chapter length, so I made a special effort to post a whopper. Almost 8000 words! Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll next get the opportunity to write, but it won't be as long a wait as it was last time. Till next chapter!

Quote of the day:

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ...

- Louis Hector Berlioz


	13. Chapter 13

A.N. Well, here's 13. I was originally going to post it with the long-awaited lemon (which are bastards bastards bastards to write well) posted straight after as the next chapter, but I have an hour now until I get on a plane to go on a 10 day trip to Japan (YAY!!) so I sorta ran out of time. Enjoy the chapter anyway, and happy holidays!

* * *

The room was quiet. The only noise was the whisper of the odd breeze that blew in the open window, the wintry gusts flapping the pale blue curtains so that they beat limply against the wooden window-frame. The sun was glowing with iridescent resonance. It enveloped buildings in a blanket of gold, and cast kaleidoscopic shadows on the wall where the light revolved past the leaves of the evergreens outside. The white walls with their tasteful adornment of three floral oil paintings had begun to radiate chill with the encroaching evening, but Aika didn't move to put on her jacket, didn't so much as raise her eyes from the human-shaped lump that her hooded orbs were unblinkingly fixed upon. She simply sat, still and quiet like she had been for hours already, the paleness of her exhausted and pinched features being bathed a brilliant gold by the light of the setting sun.

Someone, somewhere outside rode past on a bicycle, gears clicking into place, cards snapping against the spokes.

Aika's grip tightened minutely on the limp hand that rested between her own two bandaged appendages.

"Idiot," she whispered, and her fingers trembled, her eyes darkened with memory. "You bloody, fucking idiot…"

* * *

The explosion ripped through the building.

A massive fireball roared into existence, thundering through the many passages and careening from wall to wall as the sheer power of it propelled it through the entirety of the building. It thundered its way through the corridors, searing the walls and blasting the floor and devouring everything it touched in great, hungry mouthfuls. With dizzying speed the great snarl of flames raged through the building to explode through the windows, glass showering the people who had gathered outside with shards that sliced through the air at brutal speeds. The walls broke away from their frames in places and toppled to the ground in great slabs.

Aika could only watch on, lips slightly parted, and her wide eyes tinted yellow where the firelight was reflected in the deep blue. After losing all communication with Aiko, her terror and desperation had shaken her into a state of torment so intense her mind was paralysed by it. Though some mental focus exercises – a series of calm breathing routines that Julia and she practised sometimes, when it looked as though her Chiropteran blood was about to get the best of her – had calmed her somewhat, the sight of the flames exploding and crackling, smoke spewing from the wreckage like steam from a thundering train, had been her undoing.

"Aiko!" Aika screamed, and her breath ached in her chest and her limbs went numb and her mouth was flooded with the bitterness of bile as she realised that _her sister had never come out of there_. She staggered to her feet and watched in horror as the roof was engulfed by the orange tangle. Her mind paralysed by fear, the Chiropteran folded in on herself and twisted her fingers into dark strands of black and blue hair. "Aiko! Aiko! Aiko!" She howled into her hands, the litany branding a searing pain into her gut as the thought of her sister _dead_ overwhelmed her. She was hysterical, sobbing with terror, shaking with violent tremors. "Aiko!!"

People everywhere were screaming, alarms wailing and dogs howling in a cacophony of terror and confusion. Burning debris exploded outward, and the sky was lit orange and gold. Time seemed to slow and distort as a woman in a lab-coat ran past, sobbing, a long gash down her face soaking her white collar crimson. David swore and jogged after her.

"Aiko," Aika breathed, her eyes darting from face to bewildered face as she looked desperately for her sister amongst the rabble. She brutally pushed some nameless person aside and ran into the confusion. Her stomach churned as she swam through the ocean of bodies, her eyes burned from the light of the fires. The world seemed to whirl and melt away into a mesh of colours, a crushing mountain of voices and noises that rattled her from the inside out.

"Hey," said Kunio worriedly, turning back toward the Chiropteran even while the other Red Shield members ran out toward the confusion of sirens, blood and flames. Julia watched on from the corner of her eye, the blue pools surprisingly hard even as she helped a man to his feet who was retching helplessly after being barrelled in the gut by the door flying from its hinges. Kunio's own eyes were troubled as he placed a tentative hand on Aika's shoulder, wincing a little when her hysterical eyes darted up to meet his own, her muscles flinching beneath his firm fingers and her breathing borderline hyperventilating. "Calm down, alright?" Kunio said seriously. "You're of no help to anyone like this, and I'm sure Aiko's okay…"

Aika blanched. She snapped her mouth shut and stared blankly ahead for a long moment, still trembling badly. "Okay?" she repeated slowly. "Calm down…"

The longer she stared, the harder her eyes became. Her fingers curled and her cropped hair fell forward over her face, her lips pulling back from her gums as her eyes began to glitter with livid savagery. Hissing a long breath between her teeth Aika's expression slowly twisted from open panic into an ugly snarl, and Kunio quickly stepped away, wide eyed; snatching his hand back and cradling it to his chest when the girl gave a deep, rumbling growl that seemed to vibrate up the soles of his shoes.

"Where is Aiko?" Aika asked quietly, her voice soft but venomous, words spat through pointed teeth. Her mounting anger slowly overtook her worry, and her hands balled into painfully tight fists. Her voice raised in volume and pitch. "Where is she?!"

"Aika," said Julia sharply, rising to her feet when it looked as though the trembling Chiropteran would at any second erupt into a berserker rage. "Calm yourself this instant! You are above this weakness!"

Aika stared wordlessly at the elderly woman, her teeth bared in a silent snarl and her pointed incisors glinting orange in the firelight. Suddenly and without warning she darted forward, grabbed the older woman by the neck and hoisted her one-handedly into the air.

Julia gagged and screamed soundlessly around Aika's merciless hold, her blue eyes stretched wide in shock and fear as they fixed on the blazing irises of the Chiropteran who was currently staring up at her. In the chaos no one even noticed the Chiropteran's display of aggression, and she all too easily ignored Kunio's desperate attempts at pulling Julia free as she hissed: "Don't you _dare_ presume _anything_ about me, _mortal_. I know you don't like to think of me as a monster, it makes you _uncomfortable_. But my sister and me are Chiropterans complete with claw and fang, and though we pretend not to be for the sake of everyone else, _you_ should know better. I am not human, Julia, and it is not a weakness to abandon such a _pathetic_ façade when my _sister_ is in _danger_." Her eyes flashed and her lips stretched into maniacal smile, her elongated canines spilling over her bottom lip. Julia cried out when Aika's cold fingers stretched into her skin, further and further, shifting aside muscles and burrowing painfully deep until an artery pulsed right under her iron grip. Aika yanked the woman forward until they were pressed nose to nose. "Where is my sister, Julia?!" the Chiropteran berserker roared, flecks of spittle spattering the terrified human's face.

"She was in the surveillance room when she took out the camera and speaker!" Kunio screamed, wrenching futilely at Aika's arm. "Now for Christ's sake, release my mother!"

Aika snapped her jowls and gave a grin that made the human boy cringe away, but obediently loosened her grip so that Julia fell, choking and hoarsely spluttering, to the floor in a crumpled heap. Kai, Lewis and David raced to her side when they noticed the weakened woman sucking in helpless breaths, but when David turned to give the Chiropteran girl a good belt across the head she'd already vanished.

"What the hell was that?!" Kunio said angrily, rubbing Julia's back as she coughed.

"Aika… she's…" Julia wheezed brokenly, spluttering, stumbling her way through her words. "Such instability… She is a true monster, barely held… in check."

"What?!" Kunio and David hissed, while Lewis paused and stared in silent shock. Kai paled, but did not look surprised. Julia nodded weakly.

"Yes… Though the bloodlust is a natural defence mechanism, personalities like Aiko's and to some extent Saya's have at least some level of control over it. But like Diva's, Aika's dominating character means that she reacts violently to the smallest things, and lives very much according to her instincts." Julia shook her head sadly, her breathing steadying as the shock and terror slowly wore away. Swallowing, she tenderly ran her hand over the vivid fingermarks branded into the skin of her neck.

"She's very aware of whose blood she shares," the scientist said quietly, "and this means that she doesn't instinctually recognise anyone except for Aiko, Kai, Haji and Saya as being 'pack.'" Julia pulled her hand away, looking sorrowfully at the spots of blood on her fingers. After a moment she shook herself, wiping her fingers clean on her skirt. "Aika normally tolerates humans, but when someone of her blood is in danger… Well, it becomes clear where her loyalties lie."

Kunio looked shaken. "I never even knew," he whispered.

Julia nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on the ground. "Normally, she'd never harm us, but if she sees us as an obstacle between her and her pack…"

David opened his mouth, but shut it again when another window exploded outward, people writhing and screaming below as the glass tore through skin and sinew. "You've got some explaining to do later," he warned his wife, before the Red Shield all sprinted toward the panic.

Kai skidded to a halt beside some corporal, taking off his jacket and using the material to staunch the blood flowing from the man's wounded leg. "They'll be fine," Kai whispered aloud, his gnarled fingers deft as they worked. People had begun to pull themselves together now, and were ushering one another away from the burning building and treating the few wounded with the limited supplies they had available. Someone was calling the fire department on their phone. "They'll be fine… They're not idiots, though they can go overboard… Aiko probably started the fire herself, to protect Saya… They'll be fine…" He shook his head, trying to dash away any traitorous doubts, before applying more pressure to the man's wound. "They'll be fine…"

Alighting on a window ledge, Aika's brilliant blue eyes flashed as they pierced through the smoke into the building's blazing interior. Disregarding the heat of the flames as best she could, the Chiropteran leapt onto the floor and sped through the nearest door, entering and exiting webs of empty rooms, each almost identical to the last, until she was travelling through the building's very veins. The thin rubber soles of her shoes quickly melted into black goo and her feet were scorched raw, the floorboards on which she tread glowing with a network of crimson threads; but, she simply grit her teeth against the pain and continued to place one foot in front of the other. She pressed on through the smoke and heat, her nose quivering and her ears straining for something, anything, beyond the roar of the flames. _Aiko_…

Hissing an aggravated breath between her teeth when yet another room in the maze proved empty, Aika was just about to leave when, without warning, the timber above the door she was heading toward shifted. Sparks erupted from the wood in a frenzy of light, forcing her to stop in her tracks and shield her eyes from the burn with her forearm. A mighty groan shook the rafters, and with that last dying cry the doorframe collapsed in front of the entrance. Great pillars of yellow fire erupted from the ruined structure to lap at the ceiling, the burning wreckage radiating a monstrous, crippling heat that forced Aika to stumble even further away, choking, gagging helplessly on the soot and dust that billowed from the debris, her eyes smarting and her tongue sticking thick and heavy to the dryness of her gums. She struggled to draw breath, her eyes widening in panic and clawed fingers scrabbling at her throat when a horrifying realisation struck and consumed her.

She couldn't breathe.

She gave a strangled gurgle, scraping helpless fingers through the smoke that robbed her of life-giving oxygen.

She couldn't breathe!!

The walls swam and the smoke grew stifling, every shallow inhale sitting thick and heavy with ash in her throat. Choking and guttering for breath Aika collapsed to her knees as her vision condensed into yellow light, and she was engulfed along with the room in blazing heat…

And then there came deep, haunting wail; raw pain and terror swelling into a ghastly shriek that made Aika's neck prickle.

Her eyes snapped open, then narrowed with fury.

_Aiko_!!

The Chiropteran girl blinked away the smog and struggled back onto to her feet. She swayed from side to side and her skin seemed to curdle and peel from her very bones where the glittering ash settled into her pores, but she pushed away her headache and tried to think past the pain. She needed air.

Determinedly, she yanked off her blue sweater-jacket with trembling fingers so that she was dressed only in a fitted white top and dark cargo pants. Folding the thin fabric of the jacket into a sausage shape she knotted its length around her head, the material helping to filter the smoke and protecting her face somewhat against the damaging effects of the flames. Her breath still coming in shallow gasps and her breasts heaving with the effort of drawing air, Aika's hands shook badly as they hastily tore the excess material of her jacket into ribbons that she wrapped across the palms of her two hands, threading the length through her fingers and working up the wrist until the appendages were at least somewhat better protected.

She was ready. Her eyes burning above her mask and her covered fingers twitching, Aika wrapped her hands around the burning wood that blocked the entrance and heaved.

Pain erupted up her arm, shooting along the length of the limb to pool and throb in her chest. Gritting her teeth against the pounding ache Aika strained her muscles to their limits, her nerves boiling and her tendons screaming as her fingers were scorched raw, the glowing wood biting into her flesh.

_For Aiko_!!

She forced her agonised limbs to work on.

At last, exhausted and in pain, with her hands badly blistered even with the strips of fabric, Aika gave a strangled scream and sent the timber crashing to the side. Gulping deep breaths of oxygen she shot forward even before the heavy timber could thud onto the floor, her feet pounding across the scorched boards. _I'm coming, Aiko_!

The cry had come from somewhere beyond, down the corridor, so Aika raced down its length at full pelt. Ignoring her aching limbs she sniffed the air as she went, her nostrils quivering frantically as she sought the scent that she had noticed just before. The stink of incinerated plaster was distracting, even through the protective film her jacket provided; but still, the determined girl somehow managed to work past it to follow the only clue she had to Aiko's whereabouts.

Aika had noticed before that the heady reek of petrol was strong in this area of the building, and was getting steadily stronger as she drew closer to the corridor's end. But the chemical smell combined with the stench of smoke was making her feel light-headed, and nausea had her stomach roiling as the back of her mouth was coated with a rank taste. Swallowing painfully as she at last reached her destination, Aika slowed her frenzied pace and took a look around, feeling the twist in her gut coil even tighter when she saw just how much of the dark liquid was sloshed on the floor and up the walls, and how difficult negotiating herself through here would be with the fluid fuelling the flames into a steady blaze. She couldn't even see the end of the corridor through the wall of shimmering heat.

Peering through the smoky gloom Aika could just make out a shattered window through the smoke, so taking a deep breath, she pumped her aching thighs and sprinted through the inferno, vaulting into the blessedly cool air of outside. Her hand shot out at the last minute to grab the window ledge, and she swung herself back against the wall. Her knees tucked into her chest as they absorbed the impact, and she winced as the pressure made her blistered feet burn in painful protest. It was agonizing and more than a little unsafe, but hanging here against the heated stone had some advantages, she decided. She looked along the length of wall, smirking triumphantly when she saw what she was hoping for: a window further along that was positioned beyond the flames inside. It was about five metres away.

Grimacing, Aika shook her head from side to side so that the jacket she had knotted around her face pooled around her neck, leaving her nose and mouth free to breathe the early morning air. There was still the taint of smoke thick with the flavour of burning timber, but it was far preferable to the air of inside. Aika was just about to take a flying leap when her freed nose caught a scent that made her eyes widen and her limbs lock, her nostrils quivering furiously as she battled past the smoke to pinpoint the scent's source. Her head swung to the left. There!

Aika kicked off the wall, her legs buckling and feet throbbing when she landed heavily on the concrete path outside. But the Chiropteran determinedly scrambled back onto her feet and hobbled as fast as she was able, stumbling toward the two lumps off to the side in the undergrowth, two dark shapes in the shrubbery that grew beyond the concrete. Her sharp eyes took in the details as she went: there, there was a shred of smoking fabric fluttering from the remnants of the glass that still held to the window-frame. There, and there as well, so much blood, everywhere – spots led in a trail, beginning from the concrete below the window where there was a large pool of the stuff, splashed up against the building's wall, staining the puddles of snow-melt, blanketing the grass until the blades were slick with crimson. Smells were cloying, but underneath the salt of blood and smoke there was the tang of something masculine and something else feminine, there, and there, more smells, a trail… The smoke tasted bitter.

Aika's breath caught in her throat when she was at last close enough to make out the features of two figures huddled in the low shrubbery that bordered the building… A young man, with his jacket and one shoe missing, and his undershirt blistered with fire… and beside him… Aiko!!

Her pain forgotten Aika raced forward, slipping and stumbling over the muddied ground that was saturated with snowmelt, shoving the young man aside so that she could judge her sister's condition.

Probing fingers revealed little. Aiko's hair was uneven where parts had been singed and burnt away, her clothes were in tatters and her skin was dark with blisters and raw sores, her left eye puffy and bruised a deep purple… Aika's fingers trembled and she felt helpless tears pool as she gathered her sister close, sobbing and screaming into the limp woman's blistered shoulder, and _why wouldn't she wake up_? Blood soaked through the rips in Aiko's shirt, streaking the ash that lay thick over her too-white skin. It was only the faint beats of Aiko's heart that at last calmed Aika enough to draw away.

Aiko was safe, but for how long? Her breathing was rattling and shallow, the erratic fluttering of her heart as feeble as an injured bird. A tiny bird, writhing, flapping its ruined wings weakly until the pain poisoned it from the inside out…

Not knowing what else to do, Aika propped her sister against her hip, like she was a child. As an after thought Aika also picked up the young man (uninjured, though his clothes were singed… had Aiko been protecting him? Whose then was the blood? She supposed it didn't matter anymore) and settled him against her other hip. It was awkward (the man was too tall, his torso draped over her shoulder and his breath was so cold against her spine) but Aika, burnt, blistered, and faint with exhaustion, somehow began the slow journey back toward the Red Shield set up. Every nerve in her bruised body protested, but she ignored the twinges. She just needed Aiko to be all right…

In mid-step, the Chiropteran girl happened to glance toward a great pillar of flame that had erupted from a section of building, and brilliant blue locked with steely grey.

The heat lifted Haji's coat, his hair flowing around his pale features as he stared unflinchingly into Aika's startled eyes. Yellow flames twisted around his feet, curling seductively before him, their wind meandering through his dark hair without the flames ever touching him. He cradled a twitching and moaning Saya, pressing her close into his protective embrace.

In a moment that seemed to last an infinity the two inhuman beings stared at one another, their expressions indecipherable to anyone else. The silent Chevalier looked intently into the Chiropteran's own sober expression, an eternity of information passing between them as time seemed to slow and distort and bend into a mesh of something indescribable… Then Aika's foot touched the ground, and the moment was over. Haji whirled around and began running for somewhere only he knew, while Aika wrenched her eyes away and kept on walking back to the Red Shield.

A blister tore.

Her ankle rolled.

Kai yelled something.

Aiko was lifted from her back, and so was the nameless man. Luckily, David caught her before her knees could crumple.

The last thing she saw was flashing red and blue lights, and she heard the hiss of water jets.

The world vanished into darkness.

* * *

Haji ran quickly, a blue and black blur leaping from roof to roof in graceful crescents of motion.

Saya, curled in the Chevalier's embrace, gave a violent shudder. Haji glanced down at her, his eyes raw with concern, as her eyelids fluttered in fitful slumber. The blood and panic after the explosion had been too much for the already unstable woman, so Haji had taken it upon himself to take her somewhere quiet and secluded. Haji would take care of Saya, Aika would take care of Aiko. There was nothing the company of humans could do for Saya now. She needed him, and only him…

Eyes flickering to the side, Haji kicked off of a roof and sailed away to the right, his coat billowing as the wind from his descent pulled it upward. He had no sooner landed on a tree limb before he was away in the sky again, his boots kicking up a flurry of ice crystals that glittered silently as they fell.

Lulu wouldn't mind Saya and he taking her apartment for the day, Haji decided. Though it was not reflected in her tiny hands, the Sif was an old, old woman, who'd spent many years dealing with Chiropteran and Chevalier. She'd know to leave the two alone. Decided, he vanished into the pre-dawn light.

It wasn't long after that that the Chevalier was standing outside the towering bulk of a familiar cherry-wood door, one with the lead numbers '142' nailed into the timber. Guessing correctly that the Sif had left a spare key hidden out of human reach above the doorframe, Haji struggled to juggle both the slumbering Saya and the keys from one useless hand to the other, eventually managing to slot the key into the lock. His brows crashed down over his eyes, however, when the key refused to turn. Then he remembered who he was dealing with.

Barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Haji smoothed his free hand over the surface of the door, the tension easing from his forehead when his fingertips grazed over a small bump. He thought for a few moments, pressed the bump in, and said, very slowly and clearly, "Moses."

This time, the key turned.

Haji's lips tilted in a small, self-satisfied smirk. Being around Aika so long had its advantages, he decided, thinking fondly back to those times that the perceptive young twin had infuriated the Sif child with her shrewdness in finding traps and guessing passwords.

He kicked the door closed behind him.

All at once the unlit interior was plunged into a deep silence, the sounds of early morning traffic and dogs barking vanishing as though someone had suddenly pressed a mute button. Haji was unfazed, however; he knew that after the deaths of her Sif companions, Lulu was slightly paranoid about anyone at all finding out she wasn't who she appeared. After her hard-earned victory against malevolent fates, the last thing she wanted was some human destroying her for simply being who she was. So, using her relatively new fascination with technology, she had come up with some security measures; like a room so carefully sound-proofed that no one could hear if she ever had any midnight visitors, or ever had to entertain a being who required that she drag in a human from the streets, deliciously full of blood and bone…

Haji barely gave the apartment's cluttered interior with its faded bloodstains a second glance before manoeuvring Saya into the queen-sized bed he found in the next room. Haji began unclothing her, though he was both too gentlemanly to ogle her when she lay unconscious and too worried for her wellbeing to appreciate the view. Gentle but clumsy hands pulled off her shoes, socks, jacket and trousers until she was only in her underwear and a singlet, before tenderly pulling the pink blankets up to her chin. She whimpered in her sleep, but the cool pressure of Haji's scarred knuckles smoothing the moisture from her brow seemed to calm her. His lips twisted into a small smile, and he gracefully lowered himself onto the carpeted floor beside the bed. He regarded the sleeping woman carefully, curling one long strand of her dark hair through his crooked fingers as he thought.

It was so easy to love her. Even when he didn't want to. Even when he wanted with everything in him to be able to hate her. Even when the lonely years, decades, centuries began to pile up around his ears, threatening to suffocate him or in the very least drive him mad… Even then, _especially_ then, he loved her. This fragile but resilient, tender but brutal, selfish but selfless person had interwoven herself so inextricably into his soul… Haji tenderly withdrew his bent fingers from her hair, smoothing away the knots he'd created and tucking the strand behind her ear. He remembered both fondly and sadly how she changed with every new life, awakening again and again from sleep – always clean and simple, with eyes stretched wide and hands held open. Free from guilt, free to escape her long-houred life, and free to start it all over and maybe get it _right_ this time.

He remembered all the different Sayas.

There was the one in the pink dress, drowning in ruffles. _Did you miss me_? Her eyes had been impetuous, and like the child he had been, he'd wanted to slap the arrogant smirk away. _Of course you did, who wouldn't_? The question was obviously rhetorical, but he'd had half a mind to answer…

There was the World War I veteran, who'd never had time to develop a personality and had held fast to her guilt as resolutely as she had her apathy. _Why must we kill so many people_? He hadn't been able to answer, so she had answered for him with a small, ironic shake of her head. _No, we don't kill people. We just kill the enemy…_

There was the berserker, who cut and bit and clawed without reservation. Locked in an irrepressible frenzy of rage, her strength and speed impossibly amplified, he had seen the sadistic delight in her eyes as coherency was drowned in a burning need to kill, inhibitions lost to an instinctive, uncontrollable blood lust. The desperation…

But then there was the kind and unassuming schoolgirl, who found meaning in living as a human. She had fought tooth and claw against her reality, anthromorphising the animal in her soul and projecting her human feelings and perceptions onto herself, always looking over her own shoulder with revulsion, applying rules to her inner Chiropteran that were only appropriate to the business of being human. But, she had found comfort in her humanity, and had clung to that small reassurance with everything in her. However, humans are humans, and nothing is perfect when you are human. The fragility of mankind is never more apparent than in their minds, and she'd eventually seen that ungrateful, pitiless world for what it was...

He sighed.

They never seemed to get it right.

Movement drew his attention from his thoughts. Saya twitched in her sleep and her eyelids fluttered, a glint of burning red irises. Muttering to herself she inelegantly kicked the blankets off her torso to bunch at her feet, before once again slipping away into slumber.

Haji's hand curled into a fist, drops of blood as red as her eyes gathering beneath his fingernails. It hurt him that there was something now that he couldn't protect her from; it was nothing short of agony to watch her suffering from the sidelines. She could no longer deny the calling of her blood, could not deny herself anymore without losing herself entirely to the madness of her Chiropteran nature. If she would only join with it, unite the human and the monster within her, she might survive…

In this life, as this Saya, she had only ever had herself to rely on. Strength was a fickle variable when you were alone, when a moment of weakness was a moment of failure. With no one there to pick up your slack you were that much more vulnerable to your inner demons. And her pain would never stop, not unless she accepted his… assistance. Could she love him enough this time around, though? He remembered the elated look in her eyes when he'd arrived and rescued her from her prison cell, and wondered.

Saya turned on her side with a moan, her eyelids quivering and her cracked lips parting to release a small sigh. Through the haze of unconsciousness flashes of light stabbed her eyes. She winced. She was flooded with a sudden wave of nausea, and she stiffened, her eyes cracking open and a low, pained groan escaping her lips. Already her dreams – restless wisps of phantom nightmares – were unravelling around her, fragments of pulled-apart syllables, patches of fading colour. Sleep-dazed and unfocused she blinked past the fog, feeling warm – too warm – feverish, hot, angry… hungry…

She looked at the form of her Chevalier blankly for several long moments, before realisation struck her like a mallet being slammed against her consciousness.

_There had been blood and delicious destruction and fear and devastation all around, screams and fire and tantalising terror_, _and now that Haji was_ right there…

Her fingernails bit crescents into her palms. Kicking her blankets from her ankles she back-pedalled furiously away, her eyes burning with wicked guilty passions as her fingers became claws, her breath catching in her throat and her bones and sinew jolting with electricity. Her trembling hand shot out from under the covers to clamp firmly over her mouth.

"Haji," she gasped. "Leave, now!" Her back arched off the headrest, and a high, thin keening escaped her throat. "I… I… can't…"

Haji rose to his feet instinctively at hearing an order from his mistress, but couldn't help but hesitate. He paused to study her shaking form, his eyes penetrating as they recalled expressions and blushes and sidelong glances. He watched her now, her body a helpless and writhing mass of blood and sweat and tears, and his heart clenched. Cautiously, he turned away from the door, and walked slowly back toward her.

Her fierce ruby eyes, which she had screwed shut, shot open and fixed with desperate hunger on the approaching man. "Haji?" she whispered. "Why…"

"Saya… you are hurting…" Kneeling down, he cupped her cheek with his twisted hand. She whimpered in pain, but still could not help but nuzzle into the warmth. "Let me take away your pain."

Saya's eyes shot to his, wide and pleading, a blazing light in the otherwise shadowed room. "Please," she choked. "Please, don't say such things, I cannot…"

"Listen to me," Haji murmured, his voice low and solemn, coloured with resolve. There was a foreign quality to the smooth timbre that stilled her frantic movements. There was something in the way he spoke, something in the words that brushed tauntingly against the edge of memory. They stirred her, penetrating her very soul, stripping her bare even as his own eyes were unmasked. Saya paused, shocked, at the raw emotion that swirled in the smoky depths.

"Saya," Haji said softly, earnestly, "you taught me about the tomorrow that I'm living for."

Saya's lips parted in shock, and tears made her crimson eyes sparkle even as the tremors gradually melted away. Though it sent a bolt of agony through her gut she didn't object when he edged closer to her, climbing slowly onto the bed beside her, his words a constant stream of soft reassurances that she clung to when both memories and realities of pain surged through her. She raised a trembling hand to her mouth, overwhelmed.

"I want to see you smile once more," Haji continued. "I have been serving you, and was glad to return to you, even if I had to give everything up."

Saya parted her lips so that her words could join his. "I have been living according to your wishes," they murmured together, and now he was braced over her, their words and breath mingling even as dark strands of hair blended together until Saya didn't know where she ended and he began. Haji touched his forehead to hers, earnest and uncharacteristic.

"I must go against your wishes just this once," he told her seriously, and she looked back up at him, worried and tender and tragically hopeful. When she smiled up at him it was wry and watery, for how could he love her? She didn't even know who she was. No one knew. Haji might have known who she was one, two, three lifetimes ago, but she was a new person now, and there was an inescapable boundary between her ego and the outside world. But, through all the confusion and angst she suffered as she struggled to make an identity for herself again and again and endlessly again, there had always been one constant, one single, unshakeable truth.

The light in Haji's eyes was a solitary star, riveting into place abyss after endless abyss.

"Please live. Live on for tomorrow," she whispered brokenly. She could taste his breath against her mouth, and could feel the warmth of him hovering over her shaking form.

"You don't have to fight anymore," Haji said, and Saya had to bite her lip, her eyes slipping closed as tears spilled down her cheeks. When her words joined his they were broken and shaky, barely decipherable, but both knew these lines by heart, and cherished the taste of them.

"Nankuranaisa…"

"I love you…"

* * *

A.N. And there's chapter 13. I'm running late for my flight now, so I'll leave you with a quote and wish everyone happy holidays!

Quote of the day:

'If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they all screamed at the same time, for no good reason...' -Jack Handey


	14. Chapter 14

A.N. My, it has been a while, hasn't it? -sweatdrops- Over twelve months now... eh heh heh...

I don't really have an excuse; I'll just say that in a cruel instance of irony that would be funny if it wasn't so tragic life has killed me. But practise exams are over at last, and these next few days are mine to do with as I please (and really, when it comes down to it, who needs a life? Socialising is for the birds!)

But a big thankyou to those people who wouldn't let me forget that this story existed - if it wasn't for your virtual butt-kicking, this chapter would have taken three times as long to get out. I hope the lenngth (and lemon :P) somewhat make up for the wait. Maybe. Now, onto the smutty goodness!!

* * *

As the two of them came together, he tentatively bowing his head down to hers and she arching toward his mouth, they seemed to lose their previous hesitancies and inhibitions, seemed to shed all the fumbling things that had made Saya keep her servant at an arm's length. In previous lives it had been too hard, too painful, too dangerous; but in the here and now there was nothing left to lose, and all that mattered was that they had always known that _this_ was how it should be, seeing straight into the unadorned heart and loving one other in all the stammering, tentative ways you can love another person. They had emerged from the wreckage of their innumerable existences, exhausted and shaken and badly bruised but ultimately in some round-about way victorious, because you can't know true love unless you've suffered…

And they had _suffered…_

Haji kissed away her tears.

Saya marvelled at the sweet novelty of it all, melting into her Chevalier's embrace and murmuring nonsensical encouragements, the cool pressure on her mouth as Haji's lips moved against hers in slow and endearingly hesitant strokes making her shiver. Warmth met her breath in a rhythmic caress of lips and tongue, and she let out her breath in a soft gasp that Haji promptly swallowed. It was a beautiful feeling… Saya blinked back tears.

Haji's lips parted against hers. He invited her into the moistness of his mouth, and his taste was warm and delicious and everything she had dared hope he would be. As she sucked the salt from his tongue her hands busied themselves pulling his hair from its tie so that she could tangle her fingers in the curls, anchoring herself to him when the sensations threatened to send her over some precipice on the edges of her perception. She gasped, a quick exhale against Haji's lips, when his cool fingers slid under her singlet to stroke the softness of her belly. The sensations were beginning to scorch her, causing her to flinch back when his touch made her insides blister with desires that were getting harder to deny…

Saya opened heavy-lidded eyes, her red irises burning into Haji's own passion-dark, navy-blue pair. She looked helplessly up at him, agonised and vulnerable as her breathing and heart rate increased, a turmoil of frenzied madness rising up and searing the undersides of her skin.

_I…_

…_can't…_

Her eyes stretched and her jaw snapped open to reveal her sharpened teeth, a tidal wave of desire swamping and overcoming her sensibilities – and the last grips of reality faded, want sloughing away at the delicate shell encasing her pent-up rage and desire.

_I mustn't…_

But the look of absolute trust in Haji's eyes grounded her. Their compassion stilled the lengthening of her teeth, and loosened the bruising grip she unconsciously had on his pale and naked arms.

_What am I doing_?!

"Haji," she gasped as realisation dawned, bringing with it a deep and burning shame. She released a strangled sob as tears coursed down her cheeks, tears that her Chevalier kissed away as he murmured soft reassurances, told her that he could never hate her, had loved her for so long, none of this was her fault, and it would all be over soon… Saya held him close, shaking with guilt and humiliation as the frenzy bled out of her. His name was whispered across the smoothness of his skin, her mouth shaping the syllables more familiar to her than she could ever know, a thread of sanity in a world of sudden chaos. Sobs heaved from her breast and she shuddered the word again into his shoulder.

"I love you," Haji murmured. "No matter who you are, or who you will become, I will always love you. I'm not afraid of you, no facet of you could ever cause me fear…" Clumsy, twisted fingers wiped the salt from her cheeks. "I've come to realise… You are divided inside, but you don't have to be afraid of that separate part within you."

Saya listened with bated breath, a small but desperate hope quivering within her.

"Because it is a part of you, it is beautiful. I love _all_ of you, Saya."

She stared at him, before a tender, watery smile turned her lips. She nodded hesitantly, and when the next swell throbbed through her like waves breaking on the shore, she simply closed her eyes and whispered his name… and in a surge that left her trembling, her fingers helplessly grasping at air, her soul became one with the rage of her blood. Just like that, who and what she was condensed into a single, beautiful form; the division was transcended. Everything within came together in a unity that left her feeling breathless.

Saya threw her head back. Her spirit heaved and a thin keening escaped her throat as her beast and her humanity fused deep within, becoming a singular identity, and she shook away the walls she had constructed to keep away the inhuman parts of herself that she'd refused to understand. She was not human or monster, warrior or school girl. She was nothing and she was everything, and all the contradictions that composed her condensed into a single name that released her heart of shackles she had never even noticed were there.

She smiled up at Haji, her eyes lit with happiness and passion and brimming with an earnest joy at the sudden release that had her feeling whole and free – She was Saya.

She loved Haji.

She was _Saya_.

His flesh was warm against her lips.

She – Saya – pulled her face back a few inches, breathing it all in and studying her reflection in Haji's dark, languid eyes. There was a thirst in her features, she noted idly, her crimson eyes tracing the contours of her own reflection. But there was also a look of peace, as if she had finally found a small piece of salvation after so much pain. She finally understood now; understood that she was only hurting herself by trying to divide her soul, was breaking apart from the inside out when she should have just accepted that she wasn't human. She understood that she and her identities within were the same, just painted in different colours, and that was such a _release_…

She was brought back down to earth by Haji's cool hands grasping her hips. Arching up to kiss him again, she sunk happily beneath the force of him, the warmth in her core spreading outward to tingle in her blood, seeping through her and leaving her a needy, quivering mass of sensation. She gasped when his teeth grazed her pulse point, Haji's endearingly clumsy touches both slaking and heightening her thirst simultaneously as his mouth closed over her jaw, her ear, her throat.

Haji's unsureness didn't last long once he was sure that Saya really wanted what he was giving, though. Thorough in everything from Chiropteran killing to lovemaking, it didn't take the Chevalier long to learn what points on her skin made her arch and whine, a delicious, breathless cry wanton with a need that he could not, would not deny her. He worshipped the delicate folds of the Chiropteran's ear, licking and nibbling thoroughly before leaving little love bites on the soft, pale skin of her neck. Searching hands closed over her breasts and his cool palms firmly massaged the heated flesh through the material of her top when she gave a heated mewl. Her nipples hardened with her growing arousal and she buried her face in the curve of his shoulder.

Clothing was shed slowly, special care being taken by probing teeth and tongues to lave any naked flesh presented until, as bare as newborns, the pair tumbled through the sheets, the sunrise that misted through the window dying their damp skin and flushing them with soft colour. Saya cried out breathlessly when Haji disappeared from her vision, the Chiropteran biting her lip and tossing her head back against the sheets when his breath tickled the insides of her thighs. Her eyes slipped closed and her breaths came in staggered gasps punctuated by needy cries, and she bucked helplessly upon feeling the rasp of a hot tongue against her most sensitive skin, the wondering touch of his appendage inflaming, tightening her insides impossibly until she thought she might implode. She could feel the weight of his own desire now, hot and heavy against the quivering skin of her leg, and she gasped at the unfamiliarity of it before desire once again swamped her.

Haji, for his part, found the whole experience very strange. After so many long years, decades of desire, here he was, staring at his soon-to-be-lover's most private area. The black curls that lay in a neat triangle at the apex of her thighs were clumped together, sopping from the constant seeping of musty-smelling juice from the folds that he was now gazing at. Lowering his head, he slowly licked the pink labia with a reverence that had Saya screaming out, her thighs jerking and quivering with the long stroke of his tongue. He liked the taste, he decided as Saya writhed beneath him, her cries wordlessly begging the Chevalier to sink his tongue into where she really _ached_. Haji lapped the milky skin once more, savouring the salty-sweet tang, before he at last plunged his tongue into Saya's tight, tasty entrance.

Saya's vision exploded into white. Crying out unintelligibly she tangled her fingers into her lover's hair, drawing him nearer and crying and begging as Haji worked, curling and twisting his tongue in the most mind-bending ways until Saya could do no more than furiously buck her dripping core into her lover's face.

Somehow sensing that she was coming close to some unknown precipice Haji quickened his tongue, experimenting now, alternating between plunging into her entrance in mockery of the actions another organ of his would soon be performing and rapidly tonguing her clit. Continuing to flick his tongue over the sensitive flesh he used one hand to press onto her belly to keep her from bucking into his mouth, and with the other penetrated her core with a long finger. Saya's screams reached a new intensity at this, her legs automatically clenching about his head as he slid another finger inside her, the pads of his fingers massaging the dripping walls of her passage, his tongue flicking in increasingly rapid movements over her swollen flesh, fluid soaking his hand as they both awaited the inevitable orgasm…

Saya arched off the bed, screaming Haji's name as her vision blacked out. Her inner muscles jolted and spasmed around Haji's skilled fingers as her juices burst from her in torrents. Saya could only throw her head back and ride out the all-consuming waves of pleasure that pulsed through her entire being, all the while unconsciously screaming out Haji's name.

When at last she came down from her high, sobbing and panting from the intense pleasure that had wracked her virgin frame, she found Haji propped up by his elbows with his face still between her thighs, licking up the come that had splashed up her legs with long, languid strokes of his tongue that had a fresh wave of desire seeping from her core. When Haji looked up to meet the Chiropteran's gaze it was with come sliding down his chin and smeared across his lips, eyes dark and smouldering with passion.

Still trembling slightly Saya reached down, her eyes imploring, and Haji responded to her wordless request by crawling up her body to pull her into a passionate kiss. Both groaned when Saya's essence flowed from tongue to tongue, the two lovers beyond shame.

Saya pulled away from the kiss with a muffled groan. "_Haji_," she moaned, her eyes beseeching him she blatantly ground her wet folds against his hardness, any embarrassment that she might have felt lost to her growing need. She cried out softly when the tension and wetness in her core only intensified at the action, viscous juices seeping from her folds to slick the hard flesh she was bucking shallowly against, creating delicious friction that made her lips part in sheer ecstasy. Her eyes darkened as Haji gave a low cry and surged against her. He pressed himself tight against her body, matching their flesh point for point and bucking shallowly against the slick folds that cradled his length. Saya pressed her lips to his desperately, their tongues twining and their teeth clinking, drowning in the sensations. "_Haji, Haji, Haji_…"

"I'm here," he murmured.

"Don't leave me."

His laughter sounded choked. "Never."

She pulled him close and they fell together, folded toward one another, and then she was leaning back, arching, shored on her back-braced arms, open, sacrificial; charged with fragrance, thunder in her skull.

Both of them were new to this, but with Saya guiding him Haji managed to find the space where he could slip inside, a long channel of wet heat and pulsing throbbing tightness that clenched him into breathlessness. Saya winced slightly at the intrusion but pain was nothing new; she barely blinked when the membrane of skin split to allow her lover entry. And then he was sinking, she rising into him, their breath mingling and their foreheads touching, her legs rising to curl around his waist as they settled.

Wonderful, terrible tension was coiling in her abdomen. She was so hot, her engorged clit ached uncomfortably, but she didn't know how to assuage the pain. She bucked experimentally, gasping when the action caused her clit to pulse, heady tremors of delight almost making her swoon even as she felt Haji tense above her. He jerked deeper into her unthinkingly, and it felt good so he did it again, again and again, and then they were rocking together, pounding mercilessly, making the headrest bang, bang, bang against the wall.

It was a new and contorted world that consisted only of grappling and scrabbling and not enough hands to grasp with and not enough flesh to press against. Sweating skin scraped against sweating skin as Haji moved above her, and Saya desperately kissed his jaw, his throat, his cheeks, the intense feeling overwhelming her to the point that she wasn't sure what her name was, nor did she care. She felt breathless and far too large for her skin, a coil wound to breaking point, pupils dilated and skin sensitised to the point of pain. Haji's name spilled from her lips again and again as she rode out the euphoria that pulsed within her, the throbbing deep within being flamed higher and higher with each stroke Haji blessed her burning body with. She raised her knees and gasped aloud when Haji's thrusts went deeper, reaching a place within that she hadn't even known existed. Her come was freely flowing, their aching sexes rubbing and thrusting as the two grunted and groaned their bliss.

Saya reached blindly around to grasp Haji's taut buttocks, eliciting a grunt of surprise from the Chevalier as she forcefully pulled him closer into her thrusts. Both groaned when he was pulled closer as they rocked together, warm skin slick with come and sweat sliding together, pulsing and trembling as Saya orgasmed again and again, Haji only barely holding back as he continued his delicious assault.

Colour sparked and melted and Saya cried out as she came, her head tossed back against the damp sheets, their hips spinning and her feeling electric and desperate as mind-shattering pleasure streamed in steady pulses from between her thighs. And then Haji stiffened, his thrusts becoming stilted and shaky. She felt the odd sensation of wet heat spurting into her womb, his hardness slowly becoming limp the more his come filled her, some sticky whiteness spilling out the sides to slick the sheets.

There was a last zing of pleasure as he pulled out, and then they were staring at each other, still out of breath, still feeling small aftershocks of pleasure, panting and sated and not quite sure what to say.

"Thankyou," Saya said, sincerely, once she caught her breath, and though it wasn't the right word for what she wanted to say he must have understood, because his eyes softened and he smiled.

"Anytime," he said with mock seriousness, and Saya had to laugh, because though it was small and not really that funny she didn't know that Haji could make jokes at all. He kissed her again and she happily pressed against him, curled in the small space his bowed body made. Then his tongue slipped into her mouth and she rolled him onto his back, grinding her still slick mound against his growing hardness and mewling as he once again slid home…

* * *

Lulu liked to hum as she worked. Music was too distracting to work with, but at the same time she didn't like to work in total silence. So she provided her own music that she could turn on or off at will, clicking the heels of her shoes to the rhythm, swaying lightly in place.

_Give me your hand The dog in the garden row is covered in mud_

_And dragging your mother's clothes_

Heavy breathing. She was sore all over, aching. Running blind, choking on smoke, ash smarting her eyes and searing her skin where it settled into her pores and dug in fiery little teeth. She was sobbing, mindlessly running, not knowing where she was, all sense of direction lost to the sea of flames.

_Cinder and smoke The snake in the basement found_

_The juniper shade_

_The farmhouse is burning down_

The Sif child looked at the Diner's Club card critically, blinking owlishly at the plastic. Still humming she began to remove the ink on the raised letters with a Q-tip doused in polyester resin. She needed more; she'd have to talk to Joel about that. Where can one buy polyester resin anyway? Lulu puzzled over that for as look as it took her to realise that she didn't care, and then went back to painstakingly lifting the ink from the plastic card.

_Give me your hand And take what you will tonight_

Which way to go? Smoke was everywhere, she couldn't see, didn't know up from down. She blindly, desperately turned left and ran forward, crying her relief when she saw a door, and she's never believed in God but in that moment she learnt to pray.

Something touched her arm and she whirled. Startled panic-wide eyes gazed back at her, so close she could see the fear in her own pink orbs reflected in the brown. She froze. "What are you doing here?"

_I'll give it as fast_

_And as high as the flame will rise_

_Cinder and smoke_

Tapping her foot in time with the slow beat of her tune, Lulu pressed the now ink-free card against a warm iron, heating it slowly to flatten the letters. She absently wiped her fingers on her jeans to clean them of resin, and then held her hands up to eye level, considering the small baby hands pensively. These same child-fingers then picked up a razor blade with an assured casualness, a flash of dark eyes and white skin in the metal and then the blade was running across the warmed surface of the card, scraping away any remaining bumps. The delicate fingers placed the razor down with an authoritative _snap._

_Some whispers around the trees_

_The juniper bends_

_As if you were listening_

"We have to get out of here," he gasped, and grabbed her hand, uncomfortably tight.

They ran together.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered again, and somehow he heard her.

"What's your name again?" he asked instead.

"Aiko."

"I don't think I said this last time, so… It's nice to meet you."

She wasn't sure of what was proper protocol when running for one's life, so she didn't know whether or not this sort of conversation was appropriate. Common sense told her it wasn't. Still, her brain numb, all she could say in response was another "What are you doing here?"

They stopped for a second, and he took the opportunity to bend double, elbows on his knees, panting for breath. "I came back," he gasped, stumbling back into a staggered run when Aiko pulled him insistently along. "Like you said… I'm a nice guy."

They were still holding hands.

"But Yusuke… And that other man?"

"Both safe."

Flames were roaring around them, smoke made their eyes smart and their heads reel. Still they ran together, her hand crushed in his merciless grip, her fingers squeezed together. Lost together they wove, desperate and sore and hoping while hardly daring to hope, and Aiko felt like she might start crying again.

_Give me your hand_

The soft, lilting melody wove through the room with its instruments and monitors. Working in the dim light, Lulu carefully unscrewed the cap of a tube of glue, sticky, someone hadn't cleaned it properly after its last use and now the sides of the transparent container were gummy and unpleasant. Wrinkling her nose at her gluey fingers, Lulu gingerly shifted the Diner's Card she'd been working on to the side with her elbows. She'd eventually reheat it and stamp a new name and number with an addressograph plate, but for now, she wanted to move on to the credit card. She grinned in anticipation. She was looking forward to coming up with new names.

Working carefully now, her singing reduced to soft mumbles as she leant in close to her work, she used a Stanley knife to cut a new signature strip from an opaque sheet of paper. Her nose almost pressed to the table she checked the length and width of the strip against the space on the credit card, then dribbled an even stream of glue over the paper and pressed it lightly onto the card. Satisfied, and feeling able to relax at last, at least until the glue dried, Lulu paused in her singing just long enough to release a cheek-splitting yawn, and massaged some of the more painful knots from her shoulders. She was so _tired…_

_Your mother is drunk as the firemen shake_

_A photo from father's arms_

Hojo and Aiko stood back to back, whirling in place, breathing heavily, cornered by flames.

"What now?!" Hojo screamed, hysteria making his voice break. His fingers trembled around hers.

The heat was unbearable.

Aiko scanned the room desperately, skin curdling from bone, the soft hairs on her arms sizzling. "There's a window," she screamed into the human man's ear. He didn't hear her the first time, so she repeated the observation.

"We're on the third floor!"

Her pink eyes were tormented. "You won't live."

They stared at each other, despairing, the flames closing in, hungry, reaching. He flinched away from the angry heat. Her heart clenched.

"But I can save you."

_Cinder and smoke_

Lulu's ears pricked when she heard a scream come from somewhere outside, from one of the many rooms in this stretch of corridor. She automatically got to her feet, but the sound of Aika's voice and anxious footsteps pounding toward the noise made her hesitate, then slowly sit back down.

Guilty, but not really knowing why, she was almost absurdly relieved when she realised that the glue on the credit card had dried and that she could continue to work. Humming just a little louder, she removed the excess glue with a handy eraser.

In the early days of her fascination with technology she'd hankered over the high tech. She'd been envious of men who talked in incomprehensible jargon, who worked with such delicious-sounding things as neutron initiators and SATAs and the Wireless Application Protocol. The foreign-ness of these terms made them sound so sophisticated, so exciting; it made her heart pound.

But her mentor, a Russian man whose family was traditionally allied with the Goldschmidts, and who was also an ex-KGB, had just given her an indulgent smile and explained in his wonderfully thick old world accent that often house-hold items worked just as well. Better, even, as they were less traceable. She'd spent the last twenty-five years learning how to do miraculous things with tracing paper, glue and a candle. The more advanced technology that dear Leonid Andreyevich Gayev, or 'Lyonya', had introduced her too was perfect for entertaining the children and good to dabble in when she was feeling creative, but more and more for the serious cases she had found herself returning to good old Blu-tac and Clag.

Having run out of things to do, the Sif child leant back in her chair. She listened, and was relieved when it seemed that the screaming had stopped. It seemed people were even beginning to leave, she could hear footsteps retreating, and…

Her smile softened and slipped into something genuine when the door creaked open and Joel wheeled himself through. Lulu inspected him as he closed the door – he'd aged, though far more gracefully than Kai had. Slim and distinguished looking, his hair was still mostly dark and his face was largely unlined, and his eyes were still the same deep blue that they had always been: friendly, but full of secrets, and sad. When he turned the light reflected off the locket around his neck that Lulu knew held a picture of his late wife.

Having spent thirty years in one another's company, almost solely, they knew better than to waste time on chat. Lulu wordlessly stood and walked outside, taking Joel's wheelchair by the handles on her way and wheeling her employer down the white-painted corridor of the old, Japan-based Red Shield headquarters. She was too short to do it comfortably, but she knew these corridors well enough that she didn't have to worry about crashing into anything.

"They're just through there," Joel said in English, indicating which door he meant with an index finger. "Will you be alright with the rest?"

"Of course," Lulu answered, her own English fluent but heavily accented.

Joel's eyes were deep and grave, but he still managed a smile, albeit a small, tired one. "I'll see you later then… Good luck with everything, I suppose."

"Yeah, later," Lulu called back, and Joel wheeled himself away. Inhaling deeply, Lulu rapped sharply on the door, and without waiting for a reply let herself in.

_You'll ask me to pray for rain_

_With ash in your mouth you'll ask it to burn again_

There was no time.

"Do you want to live? No matter what? Are you willing to sacrifice everything to live beyond today?"

Hojo stared at her, fearful, uncomprehending, a child again. All he knew was that he didn't want to die.

There was no time.

"Do you want to live?"

It was already too late.

"Do you have the strength to die?"

It was so hot, but his hands were cold.

He swallowed. Death tasted like ash.

"I want to live…"

_To burn again_

Lulu slid the door closed behind her, then turned, taking in the small room. She was surprised in a detached sort of way to notice that it was evening already; the setting sun had minted the furniture gold, discs of yellow light rotating past the leaves of an evergreen that grew outside the window. A chill breeze made the open window rattle.

Aika didn't so much as raise her eyes when the Sif child entered the room and pulled the glass closed, watching in silence as the curtains sank gracefully back to frame the window once again.

"Nightmares?" asked Lulu conversationally.

Aika, her expression hidden, didn't say anything; though the grip she had on her sister's limp hand tightened marginally.

Aiko shifted in her sleep, moaning. "No… time…"

_To burn again_

Aiko gathered him in her arms, held him in her embrace. That way, when they jumped through the window it was her back that was sliced by the glass, and her ankles that the flames, made greedy by oxygen, made wild grabs at. She felt heated glass catch cloth and skin.

For a long moment the two hung, suspended in space and time, and did not see how the city was laid out like a small galaxy, headlights and taillights stringing city blocks together with a moving lace of light. They fell, and did not see that the rising sun had painted the horizon pink and gold, making the puddles of snowmelt glitter and dazzle like pools of pink crystal. They fell, and saw nothing but pain.

Hojo landed hard. Skull bouncing off the concrete below, his body vibrating as every bone in his delicate human frame shattered, he died instantly. Aiko would have been grateful for this small mercy, but the fall had badly twisted her leg, and it _hurt_. Pain stopped her breath and she rocked on the ground, twitching in agony and biting back screams, her tears mingling with the blood that sprayed from the bloody mess that was Hojo's skull. His brown eyes were vacant. There was a steady stream of blood trickling from his ears to slick his hair. His arm was bent at an impossible angle. Brain matter was smeared on the concrete. White bone could be seen through the tangle of split skin and muscle. This time, when Aiko's breath caught and bile slicked her tongue, it wasn't entirely because of the pain.

There will be no more deaths at the hands of a Chiropteran.

She trembled badly; her hands kept slipping in the cooling blood when she tried to pull herself over to his corpse. Her leg dragged feebly behind. But she wasn't crying anymore.

"Sorry," she whispered, and heeding the silent urgings of her blood brought her wrist to her mouth, easily slicing through the skin with her teeth. She tried to angle his head so that the blood would slip down his throat, but his neck gave a disturbing crunch when she shifted it; his head jerked back, and her blood dribbled out the side of his mouth to pool on the concrete. His tongue lolled.

Wide eyed, Aiko choked, releasing his head so that it rolled back into place with a sickening squelch. She threw herself to the side, gagging, sobbing, dry-retching at the sight of his broken neck. Trembling hands wiped a string of bile from her chin. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and willed herself to think clearly.

Moving very slowly now, and breathing through her mouth, she eased her hands beneath his ruined skull, trying and failing to ignore the slippery, squishy matter that oozed through her fingers at the action, his brown hair falling out in clumps. The Chiropteran bit down hard on her tongue then leant forward, her lips ghosting over those of the corpse. Their proximity ensured that not a drop of blood went to waste. This lasted for about ten seconds before the wound on her tongue sealed itself. When this happened, she sat back, exhausted, and waited, with bated breath.

For a while, nothing happened. And then Hojo's eyes snapped open but it wasn't Hojo anymore – it was some monster wearing Hojo's skin, an alien presence that made him writhe and bend in ways a body shouldn't bend, screaming, garbling demonic tongues, pounding bloodied fists into the concrete, raising clouds of ash. The blood had stopped but death had only just begun, and the pain of it had the sergeant gasping and flailing and screaming wordless curses, sounds as unnatural as the being he was becoming. Aiko dragged herself backward one-handedly, her fist in her mouth.

It was a small eternity before he was still – a last strangled moan tore from his throat as his neck wrenched into place with a crunch, and then he was breathing softly and steadily, dead to the world.

Aiko wiped the sweat from his brow, leaving a bloody smear. She ignored her pain and dragged him slowly, laboriously, until they could collapse beneath the shrubbery together. She was so tired, so, so tired.

"Aika," she murmured, her head drooping steadily lower until her forehead was pressed to the chilled snowmelt that muddied the earth. "Sorry…" Spent at last, her eyes slipped closed, and she knew no more.

* * *

Phew, done at last. I hope that was worth the wait - but I'm a little concerned that it might have been too confusing. Is the shift in perspectives too confusing at the end? And is what happened to Saya clear? I'd appreciate feedback on that, and maybe at the start of the next chapter I'll do a Q&A, if it comes to that.

Some quick disclaimers: I do not own Iron and Wine's 'Cinder and Smoke', nor is the description of Lulu's doings entirely my own (and here you thought I was all tech-savvy and down with the latest forgery methods :P). They were lifted from Don Delilo's book 'Underworld'. I do own a copy of this wonderful novel, but none of the copyrights, unfortunately. -A-

And, finally, the Quote of the Day!! (and despite what this quote may suggest about me, I'll just confirm here that I hold that global warming is a serious issue. But I found this funny^^)

Scientists say because of global warming they expect the world's oceans to rise four and a half feet. The scientists say this can mean only one thing - Gary Coleman is going to drown. -Conan O'Brien


	15. Chapter 15

Well, this is it, people: the final epilogue that just ties everything together. I originally had a whole other chapter before this, but it pretty much just had Lulu's reaction to Haji and Saya in her apartment (which is totally relevant to, like, everything) and explains in more detail everything in this chapter- so I scrapped it. But that's the reason why this last chapter is so late even after promising to lift my game. It may seem like an abrupt conclusion to protracted events, but honestly, I just want the damn thing finished already. -.-'' I lost my inspiration for this some time ago, and I hate it when writing becomes a chore. I may write a sequel, but if I do it won't be any time soon, so don't hold your breath.

Before we get into this last little bit, a reviewer has brought up a question regarding Haji's actions when Saya first awoke- why didn't he feed her the moment he saw her?

Partly this is just because it was convenient to the plot, but there are various other reasons. It seemed to me that in the anime there was a special emphasis on the fact that Saya should remember in her own time, at her own pace. In the anime, Haji first gave her his blood when her life was in danger; there is no such pressure in my story. In my story when Saya had her 'fits', it was far too dangerous for Haji to get close enough for long enough to feed her. That, and with the fits, it just wasn't a priority at that time.

Also, in the anime Haji's blood didn't necessarily bring back memories. It started the process, yes, but it isn't until well after episode thirty that Saya has a clear impression of her past. And even before drinking Haji's blood the anime makes it clear that she still recognises him if her actions in episode one are any judge. So its not that he didn't know what to do- its just that it's my impression that merely giving Saya blood isn't the single solution. This is why it's only much later in my story, once she already has a bit of an idea of what happened, that Haji's blood has any real effect.

I never really explicitely addressed the issue in my story, but I hope that answered your question somewhat. As always, let me know if there are any more issues.

* * *

There was a certain cathartic quality to walking up stone stairs. Stepping into the shallow grooves worn by years of treading feet, there was a sense of generations walking in this way and with the same rhythms, stamping footprints in a never-ending tattoo. Life and death mean nothing – all that matters is in the small grooves, the physical and spiritual traces scoured into stone, beautiful and eternal.

The mist between the trees was hazy with ghosts.

Saya breathed deeply, pausing her trek for a moment to rest her hands on her knees, her breathing a little staggered. She wasn't as fit as she used to be, she mused wryly, before a sudden yawn split her cheeks.

"Saya?" Ahead of her, Haji had paused his ascent.

"I'm fine."

It had been raining, and the moss on the stone steps was slick and treacherous. Kai was some ways below, supported on either side by the still youthful Aiko and Aika as he gingerly edged his way. Mao and Akihiro, followed closely by Kunio, were bickering loudly behind the threesome, but still kept a sharp eye on the feeble man between their dramatic gesticulations. At the foot of the long stretch of stairs David, Julia, Joel and his faithful companion, Lulu, were all soundlessly tracking their ascent, their eyes grave and watchful. Saya smiled and waved down at the four of them, her grin softening at their answering smiles.

"Saya. It is time."

Haji's eyes were soft and heavy.

"I'm fine," she whispered again, and kissed his mouth.

The auspicious day had her in a strange mood. She breathed in the mist, and the fog that spilled from her lips when she exhaled made her smile. Soft, genuine. No family would be complete without its ancestors, and even if hers tasted like pink frills, gunfire and boiled eggs, they were hers, her past, her impossibly distant ancestors. Her belonging.

The immortal pair crested the summit, and waited silently for the six behind them to catch up, which they did, slowly.

The silence was broken by a rasping cough. "I think this is the last time I'll ever see you, kiddo," said Kai, and though his words staggered due to the long climb his eyes were still and soulful. A sad smile touched his lips. "I don't know if I can last another thirty years."

"Kai," Saya whispered. She gathered his frailness into a hug that he readily returned, spindly arms enclosing her, long fingers gripping her shoulders. She hadn't planned a goodbye. She'd thought long and hard about it, had been thinking of the right words ever since tiredness had first pervaded her limbs, but nothing had been _right_. So she simply tightened her hold, and smiled when she received an answering, understanding pressure.

The two drew away, sharing a tired smile.

"Hope you didn't forget about us," Mao huffed, gently elbowing Kai to the side so that she too could envelop Saya into the fleshy folds of her arms. "Knowing Akihiro's pigheadedness and my… firmness of resolve-" "They both mean the same thing!" Akihiro protested "-we'll still be around in thirty years. So I won't make this long and mushy. Just know that we're grateful to you for everything, for being a wonderful friend and so on and so on. Just… Thanks. I don't know that we got to say it last time. Thank you."

Saya kissed the elderly woman's plump cheek affectionately. "It's you I should be thanking. For putting up with me, twice now. And for being understanding about everything. I know you haven't seen me at my best."

Akihiro ruffled her hair. It had been clipped two years ago, shortly after the fire, and now just brushed the base of her shoulder blades. The grey-haired man didn't say anything, nor did his son except for a slightly choked "See you", but she understood.

Saya turned suddenly to the twins. "Oh, and give Yusuke, Hojo and Kenta my regards, will you? I know the three of them had planned to be here, but it can't be helped."

Aiko nodded. "Hojo had wanted to be here, but Kenta needed his help," she explained, her tone sympathetic. "Now that Kenta's started regulating the media and burying incriminating evidence against us, the two are always busy."

Aika just snorted. Her own Chevalier, Yusuke, still had no love for any of his mistress' family. But the imposed loyalty he felt toward his creator after his demise at the hands of Red Shield kept him from acting up. It was only a year ago, but seemed like so much longer, that Red Shield had ordered the too talkative Yusuke's death, only for the human to be saved and a compromised reached due to Hojo and Kenta's pleas. It was largely this event that allowed the two parties to strike a deal that was, more or less, mutually beneficial. The policemen were allowed to live; the secret of Chiropteran was safe. Beyond this, death and rebirth had even put things into perspective for Yusuke, and he was no longer the obnoxious character he had been two years ago. That, and Aika had threatened a beating if he tried to throw Haji out a window _just one more fucking time_…

The twins both kissed the elder Chiropteran's cheeks. "We'll be seeing you soon."

Saya nodded and smiled. "Well then," she quipped, "I suppose this is it."

She gracefully accepted Haji's proffered hand, and together the immortal pair walked toward the old, crumbling crypt that was to house Saya for the next thirty years.

It had been raining.

She breathed deeply, and the air smelt of dampness and of straggly growing things. Here in this morning, at this time, with ghosts at her elbow, walking beside her, Saya could see the future glittering in the dew. And when she stepped in a puddle, muddying her shoes, she caught sight of herself and could see in the distortions of her face what she might become.

Again, and endlessly again.

The two stopped by the tomb's entrance, and the light in Haji's eyes was a star, riveting into place abyss after abyss.

"I love you," she said, seriously.

"And I you." He kissed her once, gently, on the cheek. "I will be waiting."

In the fossil record of our existence, there is no trace of love. The long bones of our ancestors show nothing of their hearts. It made it hard, so hard – the bowl of her skull, licked clean, had to filled again and again with memories, with experiences, with lessons learnt for the first time for the millionth time.

But that was okay.

Her love was a twist in her marrow.

The light in Haji's eyes made it all okay.

"I will be waiting," he said again.

She nodded. She knew. "I'll catch up to you soon."

And then she was walking away – not looking back, never looking back – and the crypt door was closing behind her. Hearts heavy, Haji and Kai turned away from the silent tomb.

Walking back to the stairs Haji paused, and raised a quizzical hand to the dampness on his cheek.

Rain?

He caught sight of his reflection in a puddle, and as he watched the image rippled. And then the sky split and the clouds were torn in two, and roiling clouds the grey of a sullen surf sank low to graze the horizon.

Haji turned his face to the sky, and fancied some of the droplets glinted the pink of a ruffled dress.

But that was just a memory, or a dream, or something else there is no word for. Either way it didn't matter anymore.

Facing forward again, the Chevalier lightly chided Kai for attempting to descend the stairs without assistance, and even gave a small smile at the exasperated cries of the twins. Facing forward again, he began the slow walk down.

* * *

And that's all she wrote!! What a bastard of a brain child this story was. It was a long and protracted labour, and my brain child wasn't always the best behaved...but I love it regardless of its frequent tantrums and general recalcitrance. I'm happy to see it finally moving out of home and making its own way in the world, though. XD

THANK YOU to all reviewers, favouriters etc who kicked my arse into gear when I wanted to give the story up for adoption or something equally drastic. I stuck with it thanks to your support! Till next time!!

* * *

Quote of the day: I wrapped my Christmas presents early this year, but I used the wrong paper. See, the paper I used said 'Happy Birthday' on it. I didn't want to waste it so I just wrote 'Jesus' on it.

I went into a clothes store and a lady came up to me and said "if you need anything, I'm Jill". I've never met anyone with a conditional identity before - Demetri Martin


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